Just for You
by Erudit
Summary: Yami is now cruelly ruling over earth. His hikari is in hiding with his best friends Joey, Ryou and Malik. They look for a way to get the old Yami back. But Yami has his own plans. YamiYugi New Chapter!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Just for You – Chapter 1

**Author:** Erudit

**Pairings:** YY/Y

**Genre: **Romance/Angst

**Warnings: **a darkish yami, YAOI (That means male/male content!)

**Rating:** R (just to be safe)

**Disclaimer:** Sadly I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the characters.

**Intro:** Yami has turned to the dark side and is now ruling over earth. His hikari has escaped his grasp long ago, and is in hiding with his best friends Joey, Ryou and Malik. They look for a way to get the old Yami back, even though there is almost no hope for that ever happening left.

_Blablabla_ - Thoughts

//blablabla// - Yami and Yugi talking through mind link

"blablabla" - normal talking

(Me, adding information)

„Run! " Joey yelled, and the four of them tried to get away from Yami's search-troop as fast as possible. It had been a stupid idea from the beginning, Yugi supposed, but he had been so glad to be able to do _something_, that he had overlooked that fact.

They had been hiding in one of the caves in the forest close to Domino. They had been safe, as Yami either didn't seem to notice that caves existed, or he simply hadn't thought that his hikari would really stay _outside_ of Domino. So, all in all, they had been safe and the pharaoh's search-troops had never bothered them. But now they were in Domino City and they had to make sure that the guards thought they were hiding someplace in the city. Otherwise they wouldn't be staying in their caves for long, instead having to always be on constant look-out and playing hide and seek with Yami's troops.

Yugi ran in one of the side-streets, hoping it wasn't a dead end, as his two friends followed him. They had discovered a long time ago that they didn't have to separate as Yami's only interest had always been Yugi, and all the troops would automatically follow him anyways.

"Dis way!" Joey gasped and they turned in another alley.

"You know where we're running to, right Joey?" Ryou, a white-haired boy, asked hopefully. None of them wanted to get lost in the big city. Ever since Yami had taken control, his shadows had been all over the city, changing it constantly as a defense-mechanism, and to confuse his hikari.

"Maybe I should just give up." Yugi suggested. "I mean, surely they'd let you go."

"Are you crazy, man?! Yami's gonna kill you!" Joey yelled angrily, and kicked a big box out of the way. Yugi stayed quiet after that, saving his energy for the long run that was still in front of them. Since he was the smallest, it was the most difficult for him to keep up with the other three.

There had been a time when Yami would have done everything to make Yugi happy. He'd never even _thought_ about hurting Yugi. And then Tea had come and ruined everything. Yugi had been so happy when she had asked him out. After all, he had always expected that she'd ask Yami. She had always seemed so captivated by him.

It had taken Yugi a month to realize that something was wrong with his Yami. In the time that he had gone out with Tea, the pharaoh had changed drastically. He was always in a bad mood, yelling at everyone who tried to talk to him, after some time even at his own hikari, and summoning his shadows more often.

Yugi had tried to find out the reasons for Yami's behavior but his dark half hadn't told him anything. Then, they had started an argument about Tea and Yugi had been really mad at Yami as the former pharaoh had said terrible things about Tea and as a punishment for Yami's seemingly self-centeredness, Yugi had packed all of his things in the heat of the moment, and simply moved out of the house they shared, not looking back once.

He had told Yami that he would live with Tea just to spite him because his dark half had been so unreasonable, although in reality he hadn't wanted to do so, and had asked Joey if he could move in with him for a few days. In truth, he had had broken up with Tea the day before the argument with Yami, as he had found himself being unable to love Tea and instead being in love with Yami himself. This fact had, of course, only worsened his mood during their heated argument.

If he had been given the choice again, he wouldn't have done something that drastic, as it certainly hadn't been called for and had been absolutely unnecessary, even if he had wanted to teach Yami a lesson. But he was quite aware that, since he had acted like a child back then, he now had to live with the consequences.

Yugi wondered for a second if Yami still believed that he and Tea were together but then he remembered that Tea had been one of Yami's first victims, and his eyes narrowed for a second. He would probably forgive his dark half anything as soon as the pharaoh asked, love unfortunately was like that, but Yami surely had succeeded anything evil that Yugi had ever met. _So many innocent people had been killed…_

"Damn it, buddy, watch out!" Joey yelled, and pulled him out of the way. He had almost run into a pole.

"Sorry." His voice was somewhat subdued because of the thoughts he had been having, and he tried to pay better attention to the things in front of him from then on. They turned into another street, and then into another one, and suddenly found themselves alone.

"Strange." Ryou Bakura murmured as they looked around, suspecting a surprise-attack any second.

"Where did they end up at?" Malik, their fourth friend, wondered. Malik's skin-color always painfully reminded Yugi of Yami, though he didn't tell anybody. Since both of them came originally from Egypt, their skin-color was much darker than Yugi's or Ryou's for example. Not even Joey, who tanned really fast and spent a lot of time outside, got _that_ brown.

"We should make our move as long as they are still planning." Yugi suggested quietly, and they made their way along the road, always on the look-out for Yami's troops.

"Do you think he called them back?" Malik inquired nervously. None of them was interested in meeting the dark pharaoh.

"Maybe we can put up a shield." Ryou suggested, in hopes of calming everybody, including himself, down.

"It would just attract his attention." Yugi mumbled.

"He knows we are the only ones here who can use magic." He looked around and saw a small passageway to his right. It seemed to be empty. Maybe Yami's troops didn't know of this way.

"Hurry, in here." He told them as quietly as possible, and led the way. When they were half-way through the passageway, he felt a slight pull inside of his mind. Yami was close by!

And then, suddenly a smooth baritone voice resounded inside of his head. //Hello Yugi.// Yami stated it softly, as if they were still the best friends and he was happy to see his light half. But Yugi knew better. He had overheard Yami's most trusted men talking that the pharaoh had to kill his hikari if he wanted to ever truly become invincible. As long as Yugi existed, Yami was still vulnerable to some extent. Yugi was his week point, and kept him mortal.

//Where are you, Yami?// Yugi asked, hoping the pharaoh to give him a clue as to what to do. He knew the pharaoh thought highly of himself, some might have even called it arrogance, and would therefore not mind giving Yugi a hint. Yami liked to play, especially with him, and a hide-and-seek game would surely entice his dark half, even now.

A chuckle could be heard from the other side of the link. //Surely I have to be stupid to tell you that, little one.// Yami was teasing him now. Calling him the names he once used to show his affections. Yugi could feel a rush of anger at Yami, and was quite sure his dark counterpart felt it as well, as the chuckle subsided immediately.

//Are you still mad about Tea?// Yami inquired in a conversational tone, as though they were discussing the weather. //Surely you didn't expect me to let her live after all that she had done, little one. She tried to keep you from me.// A deep rooted anger permeated from Yami's side of the link. //Surely you didn't expect me to let that happen, aibou. Nobody will ever come between us, little one.//

Yugi supposed it was some weird kind of obsession on Yami's part. The pharaoh had always been quite possessive, after all, and Yugi supposed that he too was like a property; an object that Yami possessed and took care of. That's why he knew for sure that his dark half would kill him himself; Yami would never let one of his servants do the job for him.

//I don't belong to you!// Yugi yelled angrily, wanting Yami to respect him as an equal for once. Even though they stood on two opposing sides at the moment, it was still important to him. The pharaoh always called him aibou but they had never been partners.

//Of course you do.// Yami stated in a bored drawl. //You've always belonged to me, little one. Nobody and nothing can change that.//

Yugi angrily closed the mind-link from his side and concentrated once again to escape Yami's grasp.

Nobody knew the pharaoh better than him. Surely he could foresee what his dark half was about to do. He had told the guards to stand back. He wanted to find Yugi himself, and he would be quite mad if anybody else did something. That meant that the troops were a safe distance away. They wouldn't have to worry about Yami's guards. _But where was Yami at?_ Yugi looked up, certain his dark half was on a roof-top. Yami liked to see everything, to be in control of the situation. Surely he was already positioned to watch Yugi intently, amusing himself with his hikari's hopes of escape.

Yugi peered at his friends. It would be safer if they were not with him. First of, he could escape easier without having to worry about his friends, and it was easier to hide when you were alone. And secondly, his dark half had indirectly threatened his friends, should they try anything to keep Yami from Yugi, and the hikari didn't want anything to happen to his friends.

"Go now." He whispered softly. "Don't worry about me. I can hide better when I'm alone. We'll meet at the cave." He hoped that Yami hadn't been able to overhear them but he supposed that not even the _great_ pharaoh was able to do so.

His friends looked unconvinced.

"Please." He begged them. If they didn't leave him alone then they would surely all be caught.

Finally Joey nodded. "O.k., buddy. But take care, little one."

Yugi winced at the pet name. He had heard it drip from Yami's tongue too many times to still find comfort in these words.

They left.

//So you've finally sent them away, aibou.// His yami seemed to be pleased with him. //Do not worry about them. I have no need for them. All I ever wanted is you, after all.// Yami said it as if it was one big secret that he had never told anybody before, and Yugi could suddenly feel anxiousness coming from the other side of the link. _What was Yami expecting him to do?_

//They will not be harmed?// He asked just to be sure, even though he didn't know if he could trust in his dark half's answer.

Another chuckle could be heard over the link, rippling through his mind like the sweetest honey. He hated the fact that after everything, Yami still had this effect on him. He wished with all his heart he could just stop loving his dark half. _But was it even possible to stop loving your complement?_

"Of course not, little one." Yami's deep baritone voice drifted to Yugi, and the hikari turned around as fast as possible, for one short moment fearing his other half had heard this private thought, and then stupidly realizing it was the answer to his previous question.

There, in front of him, stood a quite pleased looking pharaoh, as handsome as he had always been.

Dark crimson eyes locked with bright lavender ones.

*to be continued*

I'll continue as soon as I get some reviews. I hate writing a story that nobody likes anyways, so don't expect me to continue without reviews.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Just for You – Chapter 2

**Author:** Erudit

**Pairings:** YY/Y

**Genre: **Romance/Angst

**Disclaimer:** I really hope I need to do that only once per story. It's kind of depressing having to repeat it for every single chapter.

Erudit: Yugi, do the thank-yous!

Yugi blinks owlishly: Who am I supposed to thank? And why?

Erudit, now slightly annoyed: Didn't we talk about it just a few minutes ago?

Yugi: Oh, yea! (Starts giggling cutely, while facing Erudit's readers)

(Yells enthusiastically in between his giggles) **Thank you for reviewing Erudit's story!** (^.^)

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_Blablabla_ - Thoughts

//blablabla// - Yami and Yugi talking through mind link

"blablabla" - normal talking

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**Last time:**

Yami's deep baritone voice drifted to Yugi, and the hikari turned around as fast as possible. There, in front of him, stood a quite pleased looking pharaoh. Crimson eyes locked with lavender ones.

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Yugi hesitantly stepped back until his back met the wall; all the while his eyes never left the crimson orbs that were his dark half's.

In his mind he fervently looked for a way to escape, though he didn't dare to openly investigate his surroundings, lest Yami found out and ordered his shadows to change the streets and buildings again.

He had been so immersed in his thoughts, though, that he had unfortunately failed to notice how close the pharaoh had come in the meantime, until they stood nose to nose, and he could feel Yami's warm breath on his face.

He could feel the shadows that always surrounded his darkness. They were tugging at him, encircling him softly until he was unable to move.

"You are not thinking about running away again, I hope. I really do not like the forests too much. You know, we've never had those in Egypt. I would rather not have to search the caves for you, this time." Yami said pleasantly, talking as if they were still best friends and nothing had ever happened between them.

Yugi's eyes widened alarmed. _So he knew about their hide-out!_ _He'd known all along!_ He immediately began to worry about his friends. _What if-_

"I've told you I'm not interested in any of them, aibou." Yami declared annoyed, as if he had read Yugi's private thoughts.

"W-what are you interested in, then?" Yugi bravely wanted to know, feeling angry at himself that the quiver in his voice had given away his fear. As soon as the pharaoh would realize Yugi was afraid, the hikari surely had lost his game. He wouldn't be interesting enough for his dark half anymore. _But he had to win if he wanted to survive!_

Yami frowned displeased. "Don't you know, little one? I thought it had been obvious." The pharaoh raised his hand as if to touch Yugi's face in a gentle caress but let it fall down again as he realized his action.

Yugi was confused. He scrunched up his nose and tilted his head, as he continued to scrutinize the pharaoh, and his actions. Yami turned away as if to escape Yugi's gaze. _What did he mean? Did Yami not want to kill him, after all?_ He had hoped that the rumors of him having to die for Yami to become stronger were not true. He had hoped there was some kind of chance to revert Yami back to his old – not killing other people – self.

"We can talk about this later. Once we are alone." Yami interrupted his thoughts softly, his voice a gentle caress.

"A-a-lone?" Yugi gazed around bewildered, and suddenly realized that Yami's search-troop was close by again. _When did they appear_, Yugi wondered crestfallen. _He had not even realized that they had not been alone anymore!_ How pathetically weak he was.

Yami chuckled, thoroughly enjoying the fact that he had been able to distract his hikari. Apparently, this had been some kind of game as well.

Yugi resisted the urge to growl childishly at the pharaoh. This would hardly help him in his precarious situation, after all. He hated being laughed at, especially by his dark half.

"Well, are we going to go?" he demanded impatiently. _It's still a game for him. _He thought to himself._ If I manage to impress him, he might let me go – or at least make a mistake that will enable me to get away._

Yami's face lit up, making it almost impossible to ignore the handsomeness of his features, and for a moment Yugi was enthralled.

"Of course, little one. After you." With one wave of his hand, Yami's guards hastily cleared a path for the two of them, fearing the anger of their master.

Yugi hesitantly made his way through the crowds, not looking at the faces that were surrounding him. Yami enjoyed forcing familiar people to do his dirty work, and Yugi really didn't want to see who was present this time. He stopped when he stood in front of a wall, turning around to challengingly look at his darker half.

Yami seemed to be lost in his thoughts. His gaze was fixed upon the little hikari, a beautiful frown apparent on his face. He almost would have bumped into Yugi, had not his shadows alerted him of his hikari's presence. The pharaoh blinked almost surprised for a moment, and then stepped right next to Yugi instead, shooing the shadows away with a graceful flick of his hand. "Don't worry, little one. It's just one of my illusions." As if to demonstrate, Yami stepped through the wall, disappearing to the other side.

_That's it. Now that he is gone, I can try to escape. Only his guards are left. I can easily outmaneuver them._ But before Yugi could even look for an escape-route, a tanned hand grabbed his, and pulled him all the way through the wall. He stumbled in surprise, and fell right onto Yami.

"Oof." The air was knocked out of him, his feet gave way, and he would have fallen clumsily onto the ground, had Yami's arms not encircled him in that moment. He was pulled up tightly against Yami's chest, his entire body tingled in reaction, and a deep blush appeared on his face. So dark in fact that he probably resembled a tomato. He could feel Yami's heat right through his clothes, and his nose began to pick up Yami's delicious spicy scent. He sighed, delirious for a second. The pharaoh affected him like a drug. He never wanted this feeling to stop.

A pleased chuckle resounded, teasing his ears, and he could feel the rumble in Yami's chest.

When he came back to his senses, he hurriedly began to push away from his dark half, and tried to free himself from Yami's strong arms. His face, if possible, turned even more red. _Great, just great. _He scolded himself._ He had to make his own weakness even more apparent._

Yugi finally succeeded in pulling away in an angry huff, looking directly in amused eyes. He was mesmerized again, staring into a beautiful sea of crimson without blinking for several minutes.

A brow rose in silent questioning. "Are you alright?" Yami bent down worriedly, not stopping until they were merely a few inches apart, their noses almost touching. The pharaoh's eyes darkened slightly, and displayed an emotion that Yugi couldn't even begin to decipher.

Yugi blinked surprised, and jumped back at the sudden closeness. "I, I a-am f-fine." He stuttered, and quickly turned away from his dark half, trying in vain to compose himself.

Yami scowled displeased but decided not to comment on his hikari's strange behaviour this time. "Let's go. We're almost home." He announced instead, a strangely happy lilt in his voice.

_Home_, Yugi wondered as he watched the pharaoh from the corner of his eyes. _When had Yami started having a home?_ When they had still lived with grandpa, his dark half had always referred to their home as _Yugi's home_, no matter how often Yugi had tried to correct the pharaoh. Yami had never truly felt of the Kame game shop as his home.

_Had the pharaoh built himself a castle? And why did he call it home as if it belonged to both of them?_ Yugi frowned confused. _As if Yugi would live long enough to start having a home again?_ Then, there was Yami's strange wording. _Why hadn't he said let's go to my palace or something like that?_ Yami was usually quite possessive of the things that belonged to him. There had been a time when he had called Yugi _his_ aibou, as if Yugi was an item or prize that could be owned, and Yugi was almost sure Yami still referred to him as such.

They walked through another narrow passageway, and for once Yugi didn't mind being small. Joey surely would have hit his head on the ceiling, had he walked upright.

_Is it only me or are the walls coming closer?_"Uh, Yami?" He tugged at the dark cloak that was billowing around Yami.

The pharaoh stopped immediately, and turned around, his cloak billowing behind him. "What is it, little one?" The characteristically eyebrow rose once more in Yami's concern.

Yugi could feel the pharaoh's shadows twirling around him again. They were checking him over, looking for injuries or possible done harm. _Why is he that concerned about my well-being when he is going to kill me anyways?_ Yugi shuddered when an especially cold one touched his mind.

"Do not worry about the walls, little light. They will not harm you as long as you are with me." Yami stepped closer to him anyways; his tanned hand wrapped around his own softly, and pulled him along.

A renewed blush tinted Yugi's cheeks, and he didn't protest in fear of embarrassing himself even more in front of his dark half. Yami might be oblivious to some of his feelings but surely even he understood the meaning of a blush and senseless stuttering. His entire arm tingled from his contact with Yami's calloused hand.

Quickly, he thought of a way to get out of this misery or at least a way to distract himself. "Why don't you tell me where we are going?" he asked hopefully.

"You'll see, little one." Yami sounded distracted, as if he hadn't even completely listened to his hikari. He kept glancing around, and seemed to growl under his breath.

"Y-yami?" Yugi asked worriedly. "What's wrong?" Yugi began to look around as well, concerned at the fact that there still seemed to be somebody who stood up to Yami, as he couldn't find any other reason for his dark half's behavior. Meeting one of Yami's enemies surely wasn't on top of his list. He doubted any of them would help him.

Suddenly, Yugi could make out footsteps. They seemed to be coming from somewhere ahead of them. The grip on his hand tightened, and the pharaoh stepped protectively in front of him, while they slowly continued walking.

"Yami?" Yugi whispered again, trying to pull out his hand, as the pharaoh's hold was beginning to hurt him. But his dark half wouldn't let go. Instead a displeased hiss could be heard, and the hand once again tightened around him.

Tears flooded Yugi's eyes. "Ow. You are hurting me, Yami."

Immediately the pharaoh's grasp relaxed, and Yugi could feel his blood running back into his hand. He sighed pleased at the newfound feeling in his hand, and then ran straight into Yami, as he had missed that his dark half had stopped.

_What's going on?_ Yugi stood on his tiptoes, as he tried to look over Yami's shoulder. He resumed his previous position when he found out that the pharaoh was still too tall. A frustrated and quite uncharacteristical growl could be heard as a pout formed on his lips. His dark half ignored it.

"Kaiba." Yami snarled in the darkness.

"Yami." A cold voice stated, as Seto Kaiba stepped out of the shadows. "I see you have found your hikari."

Yami just continued to glare at the head of Kaiba Corps. Yugi tried to look around Yami once again. He hadn't seen the CEO ever since he had left his dark half, and wanted to know what he looked like now. _Is he even still CEO? I mean, Yami controls everything. Does he control Kaiba as well? If not, then maybe he could be of help after all. I have to somehow find out. He could be the one person that knows how to get the old Yami back. He could be my link to Joey and the others. We'll still have to keep going with our plan. It just has to work somehow!_

The pharaoh didn't seem to want Yugi to look at Kaiba, as he continuously changed his position to remain in front of his hikari without even once looking over his shoulder. Yugi finally again gave up, sulking, hoping to get a chance to talk to Kaiba in some way later on.

"Did you by any chance meet mine?" Seto Kaiba wondered, and Yugi could have sworn the CEO sounded dreamily, if one could even sound like that. Obviously, he was already imagining things; Kaiba would, after all, never sound like that.

"And why exactly should I look for yours?" The pharaoh asked brusquely. "I didn't know you couldn't do it on your own." Sarcasm and dismissal seeped into the voice.

Yugi could almost picture Yami now: an eyebrow rising expectantly over amused crimson eyes, a provoking pose, waiting for Kaiba to blow up. The pharaoh liked to play with people, toy with their emotions, after all. Everything was just a game to him.

//Everything but you is, aibou.// a soft, velvety voice acknowledged, sweet as honey.

Yugi jumped at the sudden voice in his head. When had Yami started reading his thoughts? _What if he knows what I am thinking about him?!_

//Why? What are you thinking about me?// Interest seeped into his mind, and he could feel Yami begin to look around in earnest.

_Great. _Heat rose to Yugi's cheeks. He was glad that Yami couldn't turn around at the moment. Even a three thousand years old and therefore sometimes ignorant pharaoh would probably be able to interpret his face. But at least he now knew for sure that Yami didn't know anything about his real feelings yet. Otherwise the pharaoh would have commented differently.

//Nothing.// Yugi finally stated when he could feel Yami nudging his mind for an answer. He had forgotten to add that the three thousand years old pharaoh was also impatient. The hikari decided to partially tell Yami the truth, since the pharaoh otherwise most likely wouldn't believe him. //I don't know what to think of you.//

Disappointment seeped through their link before it was shut tightly from Yami's side again. _This is exactly what I mean, Yami. Why are you disappointed by my answer? You should be delighted that I can't see through your games._

Kaiba snorted. "Well, had I known little Yugi could keep you _that_ occupied, I would have looked for him myself. I just thought your wonderful shadows were good for something else than stalking your light."

_Touché. _Yugi's mind stated. Kaiba had gotten even pretty fast. They were obviously used to these arguments by now. He wondered how often the two of them met.

He could feel Yami tense up. The pharaoh was irritated. Not that Yugi really cared at that moment. He was just glad Yami's anger wasn't directed at him. But what was this talk about lights? _When had Kaiba gotten a light?_ As far as Yugi knew Ryou, Malik and he himself were the only lights that existed.

"I don't have time for this, Kaiba." The pharaoh bellowed annoyed, and moved to walk past Seto Kaiba, hauling Yugi along almost painfully but still keeping the younger one from looking at the CEO at the same time.

"Yes, I thought so." Kaiba acknowledged. "Neither have I. See you around, Yami."

Before Yugi could get a glance at his possible last way out of this mess, the CEO had disappeared again. Where to, he couldn't tell. It looked as if he had walked right through the walls. But apparently in this city everything was possible.

Yami continued to pull him along, stubbornly refusing to talk to him.

Yugi wondered if the pharaoh was still mad about Kaiba or if it was because of what he had said over their link. _Had he really been able to hurt his dark half or was that just a new part of the game?_

Suddenly they came to a halt. Or at least Yami did. Yugi had been so busy in trying to keep up that he almost bumped into the pharaoh once again. When he realized that, he quickly turned to the left to avoid hitting his dark half (and embarrassing himself through it) but this only resulted into Yugi stumbling ungracefully over a few bricks that lay in his way. He lost his balance, and would have fallen, had the two by now familiar warm arms not embraced him once more to keep him steady.

_Great, just great._Yugi's infamous blush reappeared instantaneously, as he was automatically crushed into Yami's hard chest. _I managed to do it again._

- to be continued -

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**Please**** review!**

**I hope you do not think of this as a *filler*. It was not meant to be one.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Just for You – Chapter 3

**Author:** Erudit

**Pairings:** YY/Y

**Genre: **Romance/Angst

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_Blablabla_ - Thoughts

//blablabla// - Yami and Yugi talking through mind link

"blablabla" - normal talking

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Last time:

Yugi lost his balance, and would have fallen, had the two by now familiar warm arms not embraced him once more to keep him steady. _Great, just great. I managed to do it again. _Yugi's infamous blush reappeared instantaneously.

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"You should be more careful, little one." Yami whispered into Yugi's ear, his voice like the sweetest caress, while pulling the hikari in an upright position. As he did so his hands brushed Yugi's skin seemingly unintentionally, sending shivers all over Yugi's body. Yugi automatically stiffened at the contact, and cursed his reactions to Yami's presence.

"It would really help if you told me when to stop. You're not see-through anymore, Yami." Yugi answered crossly. He couldn't help his mood. Being in love with your dark half was not easy. Especially if said dark half made fun of you, and threatened to kill you, once you weren't interesting enough to keep alive anymore. Not that the pharaoh had ever told him he had to die but rumors were flying, and Joey had his sources.

Yugi had at first not believed his friends when they had told him that he was in mortal danger. He had thought it ridiculous! It was hard to believe, after all, that his dark half, who had always protected him at all costs, would suddenly want to hurt him in any way.

Then, when he had been at home reluctantly getting the last things that had still been in Atemu's and his room (since his dark half still hadn't apologized and he needed to see his decision through no matter how difficult it was), the entire Kame Game Shop had suddenly collapsed over him. He had just barely escaped.

Afterwards, as if that alone had not been bad enough, the houses which were standing in the vicinity of his former grandpa's shop exploded all around him. He would have been badly hurt, had Kaiba not appeared in last minute and helped him. That had, in fact, been the last time he had ever seen the CEO.

Atemu chuckled amusedly, not at all affected by Yugi's mood. "Well, then let's go inside, shall we?" He gestured to the house in front of which they had stopped, and Yugi for the first time looked ahead at the pharaoh's new palace. His eyes went wide as he realized where they were at.

"Y-you built it over grandpa's shop?" Yugi asked surprised. _Why did he build it on the place that once was grandpa's shop? He could have taken any place. This isn't exactly the best spot in the city, after all. Why didn't he build it in the park? That way he'd have been able to overlook the entire city._

Yami's eyes darkened dangerously for a second but it was gone as soon as it had come, and Yugi was quite sure it had only been a figment of his imagination.

"I thought you would like our home built on the place you once lived in." The pharaoh finally stated quietly, and Yugi could have sworn his voice sounded hopeful, even though that didn't make any sense.

_Does he really want me to like his home? And why does he still call it *our* home, as if it belonged to me as well?_ Yugi had to confess, the palace really looked beautiful, just the way he liked it – at least if you ignored the fact that it was a giant palace. It was built out of white brick, the rooftop seemed to be out of pure gold, and glowed in the setting of the sun.

The entire building was immense. Yugi couldn't even make out the end of the palace. _Is that why he wants me to live with him? Is he lonely?_ Yugi shot a glance at his dark half.

"And? Do you like it?" Yami sounded eager. A little bit too eager. He reminded Yugi of a little child asking his mother if she liked the picture he drew. That didn't fit at all with the pharaoh he knew.

//Why does it matter? // Yugi wanted to know._ Why would his opinion ever matter?_

Immediately his dark half's face fell, and the pharaoh turned to examine his palace himself as if looking for mistakes.

Yugi felt slightly guilty for his careless question, once he saw Yami's dejected response to it.

//I thought *this* was what your dream-house looked like. // Although it was worded like a statement, Yami almost made it sound like a question. //I could see it in your mind. // The pharaoh explained, though there was a certain sadness around those words that didn't make any sense at all.

Yugi looked at his dark half confused. He simply didn't understand him. One day Atemu tried to kill him, and the other he acted as if they still were aibous; as if nothing had happened the last few months.

He gazed at the palace again. It was true. He had always dreamed to live in a house that seemed to go on forever; a house that never ended as he had wanted all his friends and family to live in it.

Yugi snorted. _As if that was ever going to happen._ Even if the small chance that Yami did indeed not want to kill him came true, the pharaoh would never tolerate Yugi's friends for a prolonged period of time. If he even had any friends left by the time that Yami governed their world peacefully.

Of course he had always imagined his future giant house to be white. He liked the way the sun shone on a white building; the light was always reflected of the stones, shining in all directions. Also, white was his favorite color. It resembled his being after all. He *was* the light.

The white palace was surrounded by a beautiful park. He wondered for a second how his darkness had managed to create something like that. All his wonderings were cut short when one of Yami's shadows circled around them. The palace was heavily protected by the pharaoh's shadows, like a golden cage. It was obvious that everything had been created by shadow magic.

His heart sank slowly at this revelation, though he didn't even understand why it did himself. Was it because Yami had not created everything himself? As if his dark half had the time to do such extensive work. He shouldn't have been surprised by this in the least.

_It's the will that counts_, he scolded himself. After all, Yami had obviously built the castle in a way that he knew would make the hikari comfortable.

//You did all *this* for me? // he questioned almost inaudibly, not daring to speak any louder, as he feared that Yami would get mad at him.

The pharaoh looked at him surprised. "Don't you know, little one?" Intense crimson eyes trailed over his face.

Yugi was reminded that his darkness had asked that once before, but it still didn't make any more sense. He frowned slightly.

Atemu didn't care to explain it any further, though. "Why don't we go inside?" He suggested instead. "I'm sure you want to see your room."

_My room? I have an own room? _Yugi's eyes widened for a moment, betraying his surprise. Then, he caught himself, nodded curtly, and waited for his dark half to show the way.

But instead of doing this, the pharaoh just snapped his fingers, and suddenly they were standing in a hallway inside of the castle.

Yugi wondered for a moment if Yami simply didn't have the time to walk all the way or if his dark half had done this on purpose to prevent Yugi from memorizing the hallways, and therefore preventing the hikari from escaping easily.

"This is your room." The Pharaoh gestured to a white door with the golden Sennen eye on top of it. Light seemed to shine through under the door, and Yugi was reminded of his soul room. He hadn't been in the puzzle ever since he and Yami had been separated into two physical entities.

"Shall we go inside?" The pharaoh stepped closer to the door, pulling Yugi softly along. "Why don't you open it? It is your room after all."

Yugi raised his hands slowly. He was suddenly afraid. It was too good to be true. What if it was a trap or some kind of weird game Yami was playing?

//There is no need to be afraid. I'd never hurt you, little one. // His dark half was encouraging him.

Yugi scowled softly. After all, Yami had told him that before the Kame Game Shop had almost descended on top of him as well, so it couldn't really mean very much.

With a quick motion the door was opened, and Yugi entered a spacious room. It looked a lot like his old room above the Kame Game Shop. He immediately felt at home.

"It's beautiful." He whispered amazed before he could stop himself. He felt warmth, happiness and gratitude embrace his mind, making him feel less stupid for being so open with his dark half.

"I'm glad you like it." Yami stated softly, as he looked over the room again, looking for something that was still out of place and needed to be fixed.

Yugi stepped closer to certain toys, looking them over, and touching them to see if they were real. Most of his toys had been lost in his desperate tries to escape his dark half.

He picked up a dark magician plushy, smiling a real smile for the first in a very long time. Shortly after, a Kuriboh plushy followed. Yugi sat down on his soft bed, playing with his toys absentmindedly. His thoughts were centered on his dark half, trying to find out what was going on. Was it a game or was Yami telling the truth? _Did he really not want to hurt Yugi?_

"I think I'll leave you now, little one. Enjoy your room. If there is anything you need, just call my name. I'll hear you." Yami turned to leave.

Yugi watched him for a moment, then suddenly jumped up in a split decision, and ran to his dark half. He hugged the pharaoh from behind, burying his head into Yami's back, as he feared his darkness' wrath. Surely the pharaoh didn't want to be hugged. He would probably lose one limb or two.

But nothing happened. The pharaoh stood completely still, shocked about the sudden contact.

"Thank you." Yugi mumbled into Yami's back, so softly that his dark half almost couldn't make out a word.

"You're welcome, little one." Yami said tenderly, though his voice suddenly sounded huskier, more dangerous.

A shiver ran through Yugi's body at this apparent warning. He immediately let go of his dark half, and took a step back.

Yami turned around to look at Yugi one more time. He was smiling to the younger one's surprise, and his eyes were the gentlest crimson, almost smoldering him in passionate intensity.

Then, he vanished into thin air, leaving Yugi alone in his new room. //I'll get you for dinner, little one. Until then, enjoy your toys. // echoed in Yugi's mind.

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Yugi carefully opened the door, and looked up and down the corridor. He was all alone. Not even shadows passed the corridors. And especially no pharaoh was in sight. _What is taking so long? Were is he? He said he'd get me for dinner. It's already eight p.m. We usually eat before six. Did he forget about me? Was it just a trick after all? Does he plan on letting me starve to death?_

Yugi decided to go looking for his dark half. He had looked through the drawers, examined game after game, tried out the numerous clothes Yami had put in his closet, cuddled with his plushies, and looked out of the window at the beautiful garden.

But now he had enough of all of that, and wanted to talk to somebody – or, to tell the truth, he wanted to talk to his dark half. He had missed Yami, even though he had heard story after story about the pharaoh's cruelty.

Yugi turned around a corner, and followed another hallway. Then, he turned around another corner again, and followed yet another hallway. From time to time he opened a door, and looked inside. He couldn't find Atemu anywhere. Finally he didn't even know where he was at anymore. He'd gotten lost.

_Great. Just great. What am I supposed to do now?_ Yugi frowned, and decided to look into another room. _Maybe Yami is in that one?_

"Nobody will make fun of me! The least of all in front of him!" The pharaoh's voice sharply came from somewhere inside of the room, answering Yugi's thoughts.

The hikari couldn't make out where Yami was at, though. He fully stepped into the room, wanting to find his dark half once and for all. _Who is he talking to? He sounds quite angry. _A shiver ran down his spine. He could almost imagine Yami's eyes flashing dangerously, a snarl marring his beautiful face.

Yugi stopped immediately when he finally could make out who his dark half was talking to, and what was happening. There, only a few steps in front of him stood Yami and Seto Kaiba. They seemed to be in an argument.

Yugi could feel the angry energy around the two of them. The shadows were waiting eagerly to follow their master's next command, ready to rip something apart.

He worriedly glanced from the one to the other. The two of them were so caught up in their argument that they failed to notice his presence, which wasn't necessarily surprising for Seto Kaiba but spoke volumes for Yami's state of mind.

Seto Kaiba icily glared at the pharaoh. "Just because you can't take any criticism-"

With a small wave of Yami's hand Seto Kaiba was pinned at the wall. Shadows curled around him, holding him in place painfully. Kaiba groaned.

Yugi gasped, inaudibly.

The pharaoh stepped forward menacingly, so that he and the CEO were merely a few inches apart. "Did you really think I'd be grateful forever?" Atemu growled angrily, his voice no more than an irate whisper, sounding all the more dangerous. The walls around them were vibrating with the pharaoh's energy.

Yugi watched the whole ordeal with wide eyes. His whole body was trembling, his mind completely empty and non-responsive to Yugi's desire to stop whatever was happening from actually happening.

"Have you forgotten already why I've let you live, Kaiba?" An angry wave of energy emanated from Atemu, pushing Yugi roughly into the wall behind him. Tears rose to Yugi's eyes. It hurt.

But it was nothing compared to the pain Seto Kaiba had to endure. Deep gashes appeared on his skin, tearing excruciatingly into the flesh, clothes were ripped apart furiously. The CEO screamed because of the pain, and Yugi shut his eyes tightly, hoping it would just stop, wishing he hadn't chosen *this* room to look for his dark half. Unfortunately, it didn't stop.

"You saved his live." Yami explained, and for the first time during his talk with Kaiba he didn't sound angry. "He doesn't know, of course. But you saved his live. And that's why I've let you live all the time. It's quite simple, isn't it?" The pharaoh chuckled cold-heartedly.

A foreboding shiver ran down Yugi's spine.

"You saved his life, I spared yours."

The silence that ensued provoked Yugi to open his eyes again. _What is Yami talking about? Whose life has Kaiba saved?_

"But you saved his life only once." Yami continued, talking slowly as if he was talking to a child that had yet to learn its lesson. "Therefore," The pharaoh leaned in even more, and whispered into Kaiba's ear, anger underlying his words: "I don't have to spare yours again, do I?" Yami chuckled coldly, and Yugi could have sworn Kaiba whimpered.

Yugi could already feel what his dark half was about to do before anything happened. The shadows were dancing around them, anticipating the order that was soon to come. The pharaoh was waiting for the right moment. He bathed in the fear his victim emanated.

Yugi didn't want to see it. He was shivering uncontrollable, his hands balled into fists and his face snow-white. He was sure that he was going to throw up in any minute. Unfortunately, his eyes wouldn't obey his command to close. _Please don't_, his mind begged. The pharaoh didn't listen.

Yami stepped back in a fluid motion to watch what was about to happen from afar. He had still not realized that he was watched by his hikari.

"Good bye, Kaiba." The pharaoh said mockingly, and snapped his fingers. Immediately the shadows surrounded Kaiba, and began their work. Skin was peeled off eagerly, flesh churned agonizingly, clothes desegregated into nothing.

Screams filled the room. Kaiba's pained voice mixed with Yugi's own. He had not even realized he was shouting.

Tears were running down Yugi's face, as the shadows began to pull him out of the room, away from the brutal spectacle in front of his eyes.

"NOOOOOOO!" He yelled, as Atemu turned around surprised, realizing for the first time that he was not alone.

The shadows dropped him off in his own room one second later.

//How could you! How could you! How could you! // Yugi repeated again and again in his mind, not wanting to believe what he had seen.

_So, the rumors are true._ He closed his eyes in an effort to stop crying and seize his trembling. He needed to get away from his dark half as fast as possible. Yami had no heart, no kind feelings.

But even before he had been able to compose himself in order to think clearly of a plan to escape, he could feel the pharaoh had entered his room and was watching him patiently.

Yugi opened his teary eyes, blinking a few times to clear his hazy gaze. He looked at his dark half accusingly, focusing on the anger and disgust that he felt, hoping the pharaoh could feel it, wanting to hurt Yami.

Sadness came from the other side of the link as hollow crimson eyes met his.

Yugi gasped involuntarily at the broken look. Yami had never before looked like that. It was as if everything that made the pharaoh what he was was gone. _A soulless puppet_, his mind supplied unasked.

For a moment he forgot what had happened and looked at his dark half worriedly, his soul automatically reaching out to comfort the other part of himself, aching to comfort.

But when Yami slowly raised his hand to touch Yugi's face, the smaller one winced, suddenly afraid of the contact. //Please don't.// he begged, not even realizing he'd spoken through their mind-link.

Yami's hand fell back, as if he'd been stung by a bee. The pharaoh looked at Yugi one last time, then turned around as graceful as ever, and left Yugi alone in the darkness.

Fresh tears flooded Yugi's eyes, and he felt more alone than ever before in his whole life.

- to be continued -

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**Thank you all who have reviewed my story so far!**

**Please review again.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Just for You – Chapter 4

**Author:** Erudit

**Pairings:** YY/Y

**Genre: **Romance/Angst

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_Blablabla_ - Thoughts

//blablabla// - Yami and Yugi talking through mind link

"blablabla" - normal talking

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Last time:

Atemu's hand fell back, as if he'd been stung by a bee. The pharaoh looked at Yugi one last time, then swiftly turned around, and left Yugi alone in the darkness.

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Yugi forlornly sat in the room his dark half had created for him. Tears were streaming down his face. His eyes were clenched shut in a fruitless effort to keep the memories from coming back to him. He *tried* to think happy thoughts, but the pictures of Seto Kaiba kept resurfacing.

"How could he." Yugi mumbled angrily. Cold fury kept him from despairing. He fixed his black magician plushy with a glare.

Five days had passed. He hadn't seen his dark half ever since, not that he minded terribly.

At the beginning he'd been waiting for some kind of explanation. He'd been sure Atemu had an excuse for what he'd done, that he had simply misunderstood the situation. But no explanation had come.

The pharaoh had avoided visiting his aibou. Instead, he'd sent Yugi's grandpa to keep the little light company. It was his grandpa as well who brought him his food.

Yugi had spent hours talking to his grandpa, asking him about Yami and various other things. But every time their talk had come to Yami, his grandpa had quickly changed the topic, clearly not wanting to speak about the pharaoh, though Yugi didn't understand why. _Had Yami forbidden his grandpa to talk about him or did his grandpa sense that he was still too upset to talk about his dark half?_

So, Yugi had instead started telling his grandpa about Ryou, Joey and Malik. He missed his friends dearly, and wished to know if anything had happened to them. _Had Yami really left them alone or had they been killed like Seto Kaiba?_

Soon, he learned that they had escaped, and hadn't been seen since. Yugi was relieved although he doubted his grandpa would tell him even if they were dead. Therefore, his fears were not completely put to rest.

They talked about his friends but their conversations were never completely open. Yami was not stupid enough to not listen in on their conversations in some way; maybe his grandpa even freely told the pharaoh what he wanted to know, since he seemed to live freely with the Egyptian king.

Yugi had to think about every single sentence he told his grandpa, afraid of letting something slip that could betray his friends' possible location or their ultimate goal. Yugi was sure they were still looking for a way to get his old dark half back; therefore it was essential that the pharaoh didn't find out.

Yugi slowly got up and walked over to one of the windows, his eyes looking down on the beautiful garden but not really seeing anything. Somehow, he suspected that the pharaoh was waiting for him to do something, though he had no idea what this could be. _What did Yami expect him to do? Should he try to find his darkness?_ He hated this feeling of not knowing anything; somehow they had reached an impasse.

Yugi hesitantly glanced at the door, and shuddered at the thought of what had happened the last time he'd tried to find the pharaoh. Then, he remembered what Yami had told him before he'd left to go kill Kaiba. _You just have to say my name, aibou, and I'll come to you. I'll always hear you, no matter where you are at._

"Y-yam," He stopped abruptly. Now that he thought about it, he didn't want his darkness to come. _What if the pharaoh just waited for his call to finally kill him?_ He shuddered at the thought, feeling cold shivers running down his spine.

"I need to get out of here!" Yugi whispered, suddenly not getting enough air in his lungs. He needed to escape and find his friends! They'd need to find a new hiding spot, of course, as Yami knew they were hiding somewhere in the caves. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down once more. He needed a clear head if he ever wanted to succeed in this endeavor.

_But how was he to escape?_ He could see the shadows that surrounded Yami's house. They were everywhere. A suffocating feeling enveloped him. He'd never be able to escape. And even if he, by some miracle, did manage to escape, Yami'd surely find out about it before he could even warn one of his friends, and would await him at their hideout. He'd put his friends in danger if he left his dark half. Yami had said so himself.

Therefore, it only stood to reason that it would be better for all of them if he remained with Yami, no matter how difficult this was for him. Three people looking for a solution was better than one, after all. If his staying at the palace kept them safe, then he couldn't even try to leave.

Yugi sighed defeated. _Maybe he should just try to stick to their plan to get the old Yami back. _Jou, Ryou and Malik had been sure that Yugi himself was somehow the key to Yami's change, though they had not yet figured out how exactly he had been the cause.

_Maybe he'd manage to find the reason behind the change in this palace_, Yugi determined. He needed to find out why Yami had changed, and once he understood it, he probably would be able to get his former dark half back.

He knew this could very well be the only way to ever leave the house again unharmed. As long as the pharaoh wanted to play with him, he'd never let him go, and once he had served that purpose, Yami would most likely kill him – unless their relationship revolved back into what it had once been, when they had still shared a body.

But they'd looked for the reason ever since Yami had first changed and hadn't found anything. How was he to find the reason all alone, then? Surely, the pharaoh had made sure nobody ever found out. Or maybe he hadn't changed at all. Maybe he'd always been like that, and Yugi just hadn't realized sooner because he had been blinded by his own feelings for his dark half. _Had Yami really changed?_

Yugi sighed again. Maybe he should leave his room to look around once more. He looked towards the door undecidedly.

Surely his dark half wasn't killing somebody all the time, so it would be pretty safe to try again. He slowly set one foot in front of the other, walking towards the door at a snail's pace.

The pharaoh was most likely having fun elsewhere, he tried to convince himself. Or he was ordering his shadows to change the streets again. He seemed to have loved doing so when Yugi had still been running away.

Yugi nodded. _Yami probably wouldn't even realize his walking around._ Besides, he wasn't doing anything wrong, even if he stumbled across Yami once again. The pharaoh had, after all, never told him he wasn't allowed to leave his room.

And if Yami asked him, he would simply say he was interested in what the rest of this palace looked like. Yugi found this sounded like a reasonable excuse. Also, by pretending to walk around in Yami's castle, he could look for an escape-route or for some way to contact his friends. Maybe luck was on his side for once.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he opened the door, and peeked outside. The corridor was empty, just like the last time he'd left his room.

Taking a deep breath, all the time hoping that the empty corridors were the only things that would repeat themselves from last time, he stepped outside, and shut the door behind him. He wanted to make sure he wouldn't turn back in fright.

It was time to act, he told himself time and again. He was now at the perfect place to search for the reason behind his dark half's behavior. They had never been presented with a better chance over the past few months. If he didn't find anything here, in Yami's own palace, then he probably wouldn't find anything at all.

Yugi was just about to quietly open one of the doors at the end of the hallway, when loud yells interrupted the silence around him.

He turned around immediately, feeling cold all of a sudden. The noise came from the other side of the corridor, and reminded the hikari of the Kaiba-incident. _Was Yami killing another innocent person?_

Yugi's legs trembled, and his hands shook, as a cold shiver ran down his spine. He knew he should get away from the noise as fast as possible, but instead of doing so, he stupidly stepped closer to the end of the hallway, not in all in control of his own legs.

"Let me go! Let me go, I say!", a British voice complained.

"R-ryou?" Yugi's eyes widened terrified as he recognized the voice of his friend.

He ran to the other end of the corridor, more slithering than actually putting his feet to use because of the polished floor. _He couldn't let Yami kill one of his best friends!_

"Stoooooop!" he yelled at no one in particular as he turned around the corner and skidded to a halt in front of a group of people, his hands furiously trying to grab something to prevent himself from falling into a heap on the floor because of his all too abrupt stop.

In the back of his mind, he noticed shadows floating all around them, though he didn't pay them any attention. He was looking for his dark half; he was, after all, the one controlling everything in this castle. But Yami was nowhere to be seen.

"Yugi!" Ryou looked quite relieved, and brushed one of his white locks out of his face. His hair was completely in disarray, standing in all directions because of his tries to escape the shadows.

"Thank goodness you're o.k." The white-haired hikari exhaled, stopping his attempts at escaping the shadows' grasps. "We were so worried about you. We though Yami might have killed you already."

"Don't be silly. He would never-" Yugi said immediately, and he probably would have continued defending his dark half for no reason he could grasp at that moment, had he not caught himself, shocked at his unwillingness to ever believe something bad about the pharaoh, no matter how much evidence he came across. _You are pathetic_, he told himself crossly.

Then, he realized that Ryou was still being held in mid-air by a group of Yami's previous search-troop.

"Let go of him." Yugi said, trying to sound strong, and hoping it was working. He was quite surprised when those men did as he had requested, and dropped Ryou onto the floor.

"Ouch." Ryou exclaimed angrily, and rubbed his butt. "Thank you, you morons!" He yelled at the men around them, who in turn didn't seem to care at all. They turned around and left without saying anything.

Yugi watched the search troop leave in shock. Why had they done as he'd asked? And why were they leaving them alone? Even the shadows were leaving, he now realized.

Then he turned back towards his friend. "What happened, Ryou? What are you doing here? Where are Joey and Malik?" Yugi gulped. Had they been captured as well?

"Don't worry about them. They're fine. And as to what I'm doing here … I thought you could need some company." Ryou shrugged as if that explained everything.

Yugi wondered if that was his friend's way of explaining he had been captured as well.

"Also, I wanted to check if you were still alive. We were already imagining the worst when we didn't hear from you. You never escaped back then, did you?" Ryou got up and went over to pull Yugi into a tight hug. "Thank goodness, you're alright. I was so worried." Then, he released Yugi from his hold to look around. "Now, is there somewhere we can talk?"

Yugi smiled, and pulled his friend back to his room, all the while thinking about the strange coincidence of Ryou appearing in the castle. He remembered all the times he'd told his grandpa he missed his friends, and wished Yami would let at least one of them stay in the castle with him. He had always been so lonely. _Could it be that Yami had heard of this, and had therefore allowed Ryou to stay?_ No, that was highly unlikely, he finally decided.

"Wow!" Ryou gasped, when seeing Yugi's big room. "It's bigger than our entire cave." He looked around with big eyes, imitating Yugi's actions from just a few days ago.

Yugi simply grinned but his smile never reached his eyes. Had he not known that Yami was planning to kill him, had he not seen what Yami had done to Kaiba, he'd have thought a dream had come true when seeing this room.

"Yeah, it's pretty big. All the things I like are in here as well, as if he got them especially for me. I just don't understand him." He mumbled the last part more to himself than to his friend.

Ryou turned around, looking at Yugi scrutinizing. "What's not to understand? I know we're supposed to be lights, but I never thought you were really *this* innocent."

Ryou sat down on the bed and padded the spot right next to him, motioning Yugi over. "It's pretty obvious to me." The white-haired hikari looked as if he was about to spill a big secret.

"It is?" Yugi asked surprised. He really hoped Ryou could clear up all this confusion. He didn't understand his darkness at all at the moment.

"Of course, it is." Ryou smiled softly, and hugged the other hikari in a comforting manner. "I always thought Joey was talking bullshit when thinking Yami was out to kill you. I was just without any real proof to say otherwise. What if I was wrong and you'd feel too secure to watch your back? I didn't want anything to happen to you. But this room proves everything. Hell, this entire house proves pretty much everything."

"It does?" Yugi asked once again. He didn't understand what Ryou meant. _Yami hadn't wanted to kill him?_

"Yes, it does." Ryou got a far-away look on his face as he thought about how to explain it to his friend. "Do you remember the time Bakura killed all those people in the shopping mall?"

"Y-yes." Yugi stuttered confused. How could he have forgotten something like that? "But what does that have to do with Yami?"

"Nothing, of course." Ryou brushed him off. "But he killed all of them because they were looking at me in a funny way. I remember that day quite well. I felt so uncomfortable. They were all staring at me. He got so angry because of that and took over. When I got conscious the next time, they had all been banished into the shadow-realm. I was so scared. I didn't understand why he had done it. I thought at first that he did it to scare me, to punish me for something I didn't remember yet. And then … I suddenly understood all his reasons."

"You did?" Yugi looked at his friend with an open mouth, admiration shining clearly in his eyes. Ryou was so smart.

"Yes. He did it all to protect me." Ryou finished and looked at his friend, searching his eyes for understanding. "You understand, don't you? He felt me getting uncomfortable, and made sure the reason for it would be gone." Ryou smiled dreamily. "In a strange, scary way of course but that doesn't change the intent." Ryou sighed. "That's when he confessed to me."

"Really?" Yugi's eyes shone with delight. He loved happy endings, and was glad for his friend's luck. "To have somebody like Bakura love you…you must have felt quite special."

"Yes." Ryou nodded. "I did."

Then, the white-haired boy looked sad. "That was of course before Yami changed. You remember what he did when meeting 'Kura."

Yugi nodded, now looking sad as well. It had been one of the first things his newly changed Yami had done. Bakura had vanished completely. Yugi had always thought the pharaoh had put the tomb-robber in a prison, but by now he feared that he had met the same fate as Kaiba. _Hopefully, Bakura was still alive. His friend deserved happiness, even if he had to wait for a little bit longer._

"What is it? You don't have to worry. I'm sure, Yami didn't do anything bad. He was always the gentlest of all of our yamis, wasn't he? He probably locked Bakura in a cell with singing bananas or something like that." Ryou smiled assuringly, though that smile began to vanish slowly, when seeing that Yugi wasn't at all convinced. "Did something happen that you aren't telling me about?"

Yugi sighed. He really didn't want to crush his friend's hopes. "No, nothing happened." He said softly, not daring to look at his friend. His eyes always gave him away. He simply couldn't lie.

"You know, you can't tell a lie to save your life, Yugi. You're much too innocent for that. Tell me the truth." Ryou implored, while gently forcing the other boy to look up.

Tears had gathered in Yugi's eyes, the white-haired boy noted, taken aback. He tried to brace himself for what was to come.

Slowly, Yugi told Ryou everything that had happened from the moment they had gone separate ways. How nice Yami had treated him on their way to the castle, how Yami had shown him his room, and finally what he had seen the pharaoh do to Seto Kaiba. Ryou gasped at the last part, and then hugged Yugi comfortingly, his eyes getting a far-away-look as he tried to understand the pharaoh's actions.

Finally, Ryou said: "I've always wondered why Yami has left Kaiba alone. They have never been friends, after all, and Yami has made sure to have all his enemies either eliminated or put away permanently. It must have something to do with this rescuing part you mentioned they talked about. Do you have any idea who they were talking about?"

Yugi shook his head, looking thoroughly puzzled. Ryou smiled. The tri-colored-haired boy was simply too innocent for things like this. Yugi needed to understand his darkness' way of thinking. It was the only way for them to get the pharaoh to change back to his old ways.

"Well…" Ryou began slowly, hoping the other hikari could follow the way of his thoughts and would figure out what he was talking about. "…you once mentioned it was Seto Kaiba who rescued you back then when the Kame Game Shop exploded didn't you?" Ryou waited, in his mind slowly counting from one to three.

"Do you mean they were talking about that incident?" Yugi looked surprised. "But Joey always said it was Yami who made the shop explode. Why would he be glad about somebody rescuing me, when he wanted to kill me in the first place? That doesn't make sense. Unless of course…" The young boy frowned. "…he never wanted to kill me! Is that what you are thinking, Ryou? That Yami never wanted to kill me? It was all just a mistake because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time?"

Ryou nodded, smiling broadly. "That's what I've been thinking all this time. Sadly, I couldn't find out who tried to kill you. I was looking around for clues; I even tried to talk to Yami myself … nothing worked. He never let me close enough."

"So, Yami spared Seto's life because he rescued mine?" Yugi summed up, still not completely believing it. He had been thinking for so long that Yami wanted to kill him that it was hard to believe Yami would want him to stay alive. Everybody had told him that was the pharaoh's ultimate plan. He had to die for Yami to become even more powerful, invincible even.

"But all those rumors. Everybody said Yami needed to kill me." Yugi looked at his friend despairingly. He didn't want to believe his darkness wanted to kill him but there had never seemed to be another option. He wanted everything to go back to normal, as it was before they had had their quarrel, as it was before he had gone out with Tea.

_Tea! Everything started when I was going out with Tea!_ "Do you think… could it be…" Yugi thought about what he wanted to ask. _No, it was a stupid idea_, he scolded himself. Just because he wanted Yami to have an understandable reason, he couldn't just make excuses. But now he had to see it through, no matter how unlikely it really was. "…that Tea was the reason for Yami's change? She was the first he got rid of." Yugi explained. "He started to change when I went out with her."

Ryou looked at Yugi in a mixture of surprise and appreciation. His friend was not as ignorant of the things going on around him as Ryou had thought. Yugi had gotten to the point he had wanted to get across much sooner than he had expected him too. "That's what I've always been thinking at least. You know with me and 'Kura getting together... Malik and Marik were a couple too… I always expected you two to hook up sooner or later."

The two stayed silent for a while after that, both of them lost in thought over the recent revelations. That was probably why they didn't see two crimson eyes that had been watching intently for the entire time of their talk disappear into nothing as the pharaoh silently left their room.

**-to be continued-**

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**Thank you all for reviewing so far!!!!!!**

**I hope this chapter doesn't seem too boring to you. I'll try to write the next one as soon as possible. **I just wanted Yugi to finally understand some of Yami's reasons. I hope you are not too disappointed with me. The next chapter will include some action again, so bear with me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: **Just for You – Chapter 5

**Author:** Erudit

**Pairings:** YY/Y

**Genre: **Romance/Angst

**Warning: One person that usually isn't evil in the series turns out to be the villain in this chapter of the story.** Please forgive me if I offend you with the choice of my villain.

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_Blablabla_- Thoughts

/blablabla/- Yami and Yugi talking through mind link

"blablabla"- normal talking

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Last time:

The two stayed silent for a while after that, both of them lost in thought. That was probably why they didn't see two crimson eyes that had been watching intently for the entire time of their talk disappear into nothing as the pharaoh silently left their room.

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Just when Yugi was about to say something to break the silence that had taken over after their little talk, the door was thrown open, and Yugi's grandpa entered.

"Ho, ho! Hello there, Ryou, long time no see!" Yugi's grandpa greeted cheerfully. In his hands were two trays, loaded with Yugi's favorite dinner, Spaghetti. Sugoruko placed the food in front of the two hikaris, then turned around to face his grandson.

"How are you Yugi? Is there anything I can do to help you?" Yugi's grandpa looked at the young boy questioningly, his face wrinkled in concern.

"I'm fine, grandpa." Yugi smiled reassuringly. Now that Ryou was there with him…he was sure nothing could go wrong anymore.

"Good, good." Sugoruko hummed in appreciation. "How about we go for a little walk after you two have finished eating your dinner? A little bit fresh air would do you some good."

"Great!" Ryou answered before Yugi could even open his mouth. "We'll be ready in a few." That said, the white-haired hikari began digging in, showing to everyone around him that he'd spent too much time in the company of Jou.

Yugi laughed at his friend's antics and began eating as well. He could tell that Ryou had something planned but didn't dare asking in front of his grandpa.

When they had finished eating, they put on some warmer clothes, and let themselves be led outside by Yugi's grandpa, who seemed to know the pharaoh's mansion quite well. Once they were outside, they met up with Yami, who was obviously intending to join them.

_So it was his idea! He set grandpa up to get us to go for a walk!_ Yugi scowled. _Why didn't he just ask us himself? And grandpa… he could have at least mentioned the fact!_

Ryou, in the meantime, looked quite pleased at the fact that the pharaoh would be joining them. Everything went according to plan. Yugi's dark half wouldn't dare to ignore him in front of his own hikari. Yami was on thin ice already, concerning his relationship with Yugi. But if Ryou had any say in the matter, the two of them would be getting together soon. He wanted to be reunited with Bakura. And what better way to get Yugi and Yami together than making Yugi trip into Yami's awaiting arms? Ryou grinned, quite pleased with his plan. He would be reunited with his own yami soon.

"Well, shall we go?" Yami asked, ignoring the angry and disappointed stares he received from Yugi. Or maybe he didn't even notice, Yugi thought.

"Sure." Yugi stated through clenched teeth. Somehow the last thought had hit straight home. Since his talk with Ryou he had come to like the idea of Yami being in love with him. He had found out he wanted to be loved by Yami. And if his darkness had done all that just to win his heart… well he couldn't say it was alright to kill innocent people, but somehow it had been flattering to think all of that had been done to woo him.

Their small group left the park that surrounded the pharaoh's palace, and went quietly through empty streets. Yugi wondered for one moment if the streets were always that empty nowadays or if they were just empty right at that moment because of Yami accompanying them. He could see and feel the shadows circling around them, once in a while coming back to Yami to inform him of everything that was going on around them. They turned left and went down another alleyway. Yugi had just wanted to ask if Yami had a specific destination, when he suddenly stumbled over something that he could have sworn hadn't been laying on the floor just a few seconds ago. Yugi closed his eyes, prepared to land hard, and was quite surprised to find out that the floor underneath him was quite soft and comfy. It even seemed to breathe. Wait! Breathe? His eyes shot open, and looked right into amusing looking crimson. Apparently he had crashed into the pharaoh, sending both of them tumbling to the ground. Yami had probably turned himself around during their fall, hence them ending up face to face.

Yugi blushed bright red, as he hurriedly scrambled off of his dark half, all the while muttering incomprehensible excuses. In all the commotion he had already forgotten who had really made him fall. Ryou was standing on the side, watching the two of them interestedly, a grin tugging on his lips. As far as he could tell, his plan had been a full success.

_God is that embarrassing! I'm such a klutz. _Yugi sighed. The more he thought about it, the surer he was that Yami couldn't be in love with him. After all, what was there to love about him?

They finally left the small streets they had been walking in so far, none of them having any similarity to the streets Yugi once knew were surrounding the Kame Game Shop, and stopped right in front of the park. _So that's where we have been heading to all this time_ Yugi noted in the back of his mind, while trying to make out something in the dark. He had never been in the park at this time of the day. It would have been much too dangerous for him in the past.

Yugi didn't know when he had passed his grandpa, Ryou and Yami, but suddenly he was the one leading their little group, going at a fast pace, afraid he might have to return before he could reach his favorite spot in the park, an old oak on the other side of the little duck-pond that was situated left to the entrance. When he had finally reached said tree, he came to a halt, breathing hard. He could feel the others reaching him, but paid them no mind. Instead, he walked up to the oak, and lay down in the grass in front of it, looking at the stars. They were really beautiful at this time of night. One was usually not able to see them that well in the city.

Yugi sighed dreamily, while in his mind going over the star-constellations he could make out on the sky. He was so immersed in his gazing that he didn't even see the other three watching him. Ryou was wondering why he was looking at the stars when there were far more important things to do, like getting together with his yami for example. Yami was watching him intently with mild amusement, adoration and something that could have been love shining in his eyes. Yugi's grandpa was simply standing there, waiting for the three of them to get done with whatever they were doing.

Yugi was just beginning to doze of, when he felt somebody kneel down next to him.

"I think it's time we went home, little one." Yami suggested.

It seemed as if the pharaoh was offering Yugi a hand to get up, when suddenly some of Yami's shadows circled around them, telling Yami something that must have been, judging by the look on his face, bad news. The pharaoh began glancing at the forest close by worriedly. Then, he turned back to his companions, pulled Yugi roughly to his feet, and, not wasting any time, ordered Sugoruko to take the two hikari's home straight away.

Yugi protested heavily, he demanded to remain at his yami's side, but he was mercilessly pulled out of the park and through some empty streets by his grandpa. Where Sugoruko had gotten his sudden strength from remained a mystery. Yugi was indeed so surprised by the fact that he stopped struggling after only a few blocks.

His fighting will returned, however, once Yami's castle was in sight. The two hikaris looked at each other, then nodded in silent agreement, and did what they did best: ran as fast as they could in different directions. Sugoruko could, after all, not split into two yet, and was therefore only able to follow one of them.

Yugi ran back towards the park, almost bumping head-on into walls that suddenly appeared in front of him. _Great, Yami's changing the streets again!_ Yugi got quite frustrated when realizing he must have run in circles. He was sure he had passed this street once already…but in the end he managed to reach the park. And he seemed to have finally lost grandpa as well.

Yugi crept to where he heard voices coming from, and was surprised to see Yami arguing with no other than his grandpa!

"Wha-" he exclaimed softly before he could stop himself, but it luckily went unnoticed by Yami. How did his grandpa get to Yami that fast?

In the same moment he felt something move behind him, and, before he could turn around, a hand was placed on his shoulder, keeping him in place, as an old voice mumbled: "I should have known you'd come back to the park. I really wish you hadn't, though."

Yugi's eyes widened, as he recognized this voice, and he slowly turned his head to look at the other…it was his grandpa!

"B-but h-how i-is t-that p-possible?" he stuttered confused as he looked from one grandpa, talking heatedly with Yami, to the other, who was sitting right next to him. How could there be two grandpas? Before he could demand answers, however, Yami attracted his attention, and he began to listen closely to what was said in front of him.

"Well, then you might as well go again. I will not let you talk to him." Yami said, his voice sounding dangerously soft, from Yugi's point of view.

"Do you really think you can keep him from me forever?" Yugi's eyes widened when he realized how cold his grandpa's voice sounded. Sugoruko didn't talk like that!

"Yes, in fact I do." Yami stated, sounding arrogant and proud of himself.

"Do you really think he won't find out that you created an imitation of me out of your shadows? Do you really think you can pull it off without him realizing that something is wrong? Do you really think he is that stupid!" Sugoruko's face had turned beet red in his heated speech. Yugi had never seen him that angry before. So, that was the explanation. He turned to look at the grandpa sitting next to him. He had been created out of Yami's shadows! But why had his dark half created an imitation when the real one was close by? He didn't understand. Was the Ryou he met in the castle an imitation as well?

"At least he doesn't have to face you!" the pharaoh said angrily. "It would break his heart to hear you talk like that!"

"Break his heart? Dear pharaoh, you're the only one that is constantly breaking his heart and hurting him in several other ways. I would never harm my grandson."

"You wouldn't? You wouldn't?" Yugi could feel the shadows gather around Yami. His dark half was really angry. But why? Why did he get so worked up because of his grandpa exclaiming that he didn't want to hurt him? Shouldn't he be rather glad?

"Well, if you don't want to hurt him, then please tell me why you destroyed the Kame Game Shop when Yugi was inside of it? If Kaiba hadn't rescued him, he could have been killed!" Yami was trembling from held-back rage, the shadows around him circling so fast that all you could see was a black whirl.

Yugi stared at the two of them in shock. Was what Yami had said true? Had grandpa really blown up the Kame Game Shop? _But why?_

"Surely you of all people know that I would have never blown up the shop had I known that it was Yugi who was inside. He shouldn't even have been there. He was supposed to be over at Tea's house. How was I supposed to know that he would be home packing his things? It is really your fault. Had you not always fought with my grandson, he wouldn't have tried to move out of our house that day! I would never want to hurt him. I only wanted to get rid of what was always causing him pain. If you want to hear it out of my mouth, I I wanted to kill you, pharaoh, not Yugi!"

It was quiet for a few minutes after this exclamation, both outside on the grass, where Yami and Yugi's grandpa stood, and inside of Yugi's mind. He couldn't think anymore. All was blank. It was as if he had gone to sleep and was simply watching the happenings like a movie. He didn't even feel how the fake grandpa tried to silently comfort him. He was completely numb.

"You are a coward, Sugoruko. If you had wanted to kill me fair and square, you wouldn't have tried to get a house to collapse on top of me, you would have challenged me in the open. If you had really thought your motives were right, if you had really been convinced that Yugi thought the same as you do, you would have tried to defeat me in the open. But you didn't, Sugoruko. That's why you lost the game the moment you sat your plan in action. And you almost killed the person you are saying you want to protect in your first move."

"You have no right to talk to me like that! Yugi is no game! You do not play when it comes to your loved ones' emotions and lives! You're not the right one to talk about responsibility, pharaoh! If I remember correct, it was you who sold Yugi to the Orichalchos for a little bit of power!"

"I didn't sell him!" Yami yelled angrily, not liking where this talk was going.

"You didn't? Don't pretend, pharaoh. Hawkins told me everything that happened! You're as ruthless now as you have been in the past. Don't think I've not heard the rumors about you needing to kill my grandson to become stronger!"

"Oh, that's great. It was you who spread those false rumors in the first place to make Yugi hate me!"

"Oh? And did I succeed, pharaoh? Does he hate you? Is that why you keep him from me?"

"No! He would never hate me!" The pharaoh yelled, although he didn't sound sure of it himself.

"Is that so? I don't believe a word you're saying, pharaoh. Ever since I found out how easily you would sacrifice Yugi, I have been planning to get rid of you. I should have never gotten that stupid box out of Egypt in the first place! And I tell you, I've been regretting that day ever since. You've done nothing but hurting Yugi, both emotionally and mentally." Glassy violet eyes glared at the pharaoh, who for once didn't know what to say.

"I would never hurt Yugi on purpose." Yami stated finally.

"You wouldn't? Then you must be really stupid to always hurt him by mistake. Don't you think before you act?" Sugoruko chuckled coldly. He had found one of Yami's weak points.

Yami raised one of his hands in defense; he didn't want to hear any more of this. The shadows accumulated around him, ready to strike.

"Do you really want to do the same to me as you did to Kaiba?" Sugoruko stated calmly, a poker face concealing his emotions. "What are you going to tell Yugi once he wants to meet his real grandpa? He might have a place in his heart of gold to forgive you for what you did to Kaiba, but do you really think he'll ever forgive you if he finds out you killed me?"

Yami slowly lowered his hand, knowing fully well Yugi's grandpa was right. "Leave Yugi out of this!" He bellowed angrily.

"But it's all about Yugi, isn't it? You want him to stay away from me, and I want him to stay away from you. It's quite simple, isn't it? He just has to choose between me and you. Why don't you let him decide himself? Why do you always pick for him, pharaoh? Are you afraid of the answer you'll get once he knows of the choice he can make?" There was a short pause, and then Sugoruko continued: "This will be my last warning, pharaoh! Leave Yugi alone. You don't deserve him." Then, Yugi's grandpa turned around to vanish in the dark, leaving a shaking Yami behind. When Sugoruko was a safe distance away, the pharaoh's legs gave way, and he dropped to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. This was one mind-game he had lost.

Yugi, who was finally beginning to comprehend what had been said by his grandpa and by Yami, saw how the shadows surrounded his dark half in an effort to spend comfort, but they were unsuccessful. Shadows could not console anybody; they were cold and lifeless, it was not in their nature to soothe. Yugi slowly rose, he had forgotten about the fake grandpa right next to him already, as he was more concerned about his yami. He had never seen his dark half cry before. Of course, Joey had once told him that Yami had cried when the Orichalchos had separated them, but he had never seen the pharaoh cry himself. He made a few steps in Yami's direction, and then stopped again, unsure as to what to do.

"Y-yami?" he finally said softly, not wanting to startle the pharaoh. He could see his dark half stiffen, the sobs stopping immediately. Then, shadows were circling around Yugi, checking him, making sure he was real. Finally, he was pulled forwards by the shadows. They led him to their master, feeling the unspoken need the pharaoh had to be consoled by Yugi.

"Y-yami." Yugi repeated, as he looked at his dark half. Said person was staring into the distance, his hands were balled to fists in an effort to keep from crying. He didn't want his hikari to think him to be weak. He wanted to be strong for Yugi. Yugi shouldn't be worrying about him.

/What are you doing here, aibou/ The pharaoh wanted to know, and Yugi had to complement him for the ability to keep his feelings in check. Had Yugi not been able to see Yami's face, he would have thought everything was alright by the sound of his voice.

/I'm sorry./ Yugi stated softly. /I didn't listen to you and came back./ He was quiet for some time, afraid the pharaoh would begin to yell at him for not following his orders. No reprimand came.

/Do you hate me, aibou/ Yami asked, and his voice sounded as if he was begging Yugi to lie if it was necessary.

/No. I could never hate anybody./ Yugi stated, making sure his voice sounded as soft as he could manage. Though, so he added quietly to himself, he was quite disappointed by his grandpa. Then, he knelt down right next to his yami, and softly embraced him. /You know, sometimes it really helps to just cry. It's a great relief. Let that be said by someone who has probably cried enough tears to fill a lake./

The pharaoh turned around slightly, and hugged Yugi close to him, as if he were afraid Yugi might disappear the moment he let go. Yugi could feel Yami trembling slightly, as the pharaoh's tears began to wet his shirt. His hands on his yami's back began drawing circles in what he thought was a soothing motion.

**-tbc-**

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**Thank you all for your reviews!**

**fallen-angel-of-repression: **Don't worry, I plan on having the other yamis return eventually. And as to obsessive yamis: I really enjoy having them express their feelings through conquering the world (though that's overdoing it maybe a little). But I'm just like you in that aspect. That's why I wrote this story, after all. Please continue reading my story and thanks for your review!

**DaakuKitsune: **Thanks for your review! As you can see, I'm trying to tie all the strings together to get to the happy ending faster ;-) I thought it would have been too complicated to add a really evil person that wants Yugi dead. That way the story would probably need a lot more chapters than I wanted to write. I hate love-stories where I have to wait for about twenty chapters, so I intended to make the plot simple. I hope you don't mind. Otherwise, feel free to make a suggestion on an evil person I could add.

**Strega (): **I hope this answers the question of grandpa being there on his own will. He was just created by Yami to make Yugi feel comfortable, and because Yami doesn't want to have Yugi find out what his real grandpa thinks of his dark half. Thanks for your long reviews! I really enjoy them, and it shows that what I have written is understandable so far. If you have any other questions…I'm waiting (lol).

**Vamp468: **Yes, I would have quite liked them to get together in the actual show as well. I'm still waiting for Kazuki Takahashi to write a real ending, though sadly I think I'll have to wait forever for that one to come, sigh. Thanks for your review!


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: **Just for You – Chapter 6

**Author:** Erudit

**Pairings:** YY/Y ; R/B and M/M

**Genre: **Romance/Angst

**Thank you all for reviewing my story! You don't know how happy it makes me to know some of you like my stories!**

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_Blablabla_- Thoughts

/blablabla/- Yami and Yugi talking through mind link

"blablabla"- normal talking

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Last time:

The pharaoh turned around slightly, and hugged Yugi close to him, as if he were afraid Yugi might disappear the moment he let go. Yugi could feel Yami trembling slightly, as the pharaoh's tears began to wet his shirt. His hands on his yami's back began drawing circles in what he thought was a soothing motion.

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"Ugh." Yugi mumbled when slowly waking up. His head hurt like hell. What had happened? The last thing he remembered…wait! What did he remember? It was all hazy. They had gone for a walk to the park, then Yami had sent them home. He'd tried to escape his grandpa, he had wanted to stay close to his dark half, and then…and then? It was all black. He couldn't remember anything. Had he passed out? He was quite sure there had been something else. Something he had forgotten. Something important. But what?

"Yugi? Yugi!" a soft voice with British accent inquired.

"R-ryou?" Yugi turned to where the voice had come from, and slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the light.

"Thank goodness, you're alright!" Ryou exclaimed and hugged Yugi. "When I saw Yami carrying you, I feared the worst."

"Yami? Carrying me?" Yugi wondered, still not remembering anything that had happened.

"Yes, he did." Another voice, this time a much older sounding one, spoke up. "We were quite worried about you."

Yugi could make out his grandpa standing behind Ryou. Wait! Grandpa? Didn't something happen? Something concerning grandpa? But what? He couldn't remember anything. Or had it all been a dream? Had he dreamed about grandpa? Yugi frowned confused.

"You must have run against one of the walls when trying to find your way back to the park." Sugoruko explained. "When I found you lying on the ground, I got the pharaoh's help right away. He was the one who carried you back. I would have done so myself, but you know how much trouble my back is giving me from time to time." The old man smiled softly at his grandson, then wanted to know: "Are you hungry? I can get you something to eat."

Yugi giggled. "We just ate something a few hours ago, grandpa. You can't possibly expect me to already be hungry again!"

"What do you mean 'a few hours'? You've been unconscious for two days!" Ryou exclaimed, though his voice sounded a bit muffled by Yugi's shirt. He had buried his head in his friend's shoulder, his grip on Yugi never relaxing.

"I've been knocked out for two days?" Yugi repeated, his eyes wide with surprise. "Wow. I'm so sorry, I worried you guys!"

"It's alright." The other two assured him, both of them smiling assuringly at the young hikari.

"Well, if I really haven't eaten for two days straight, then I suppose I want some food after all!" Yugi said cheerfully, trying to make the others laugh.

"I'll get right at it." Sugoruko stated and left Yugi's room.

"Did you really run against a wall?" Ryou wanted to know.

Yugi frowned, as he once again tried to remember. "I don't know. I can't remember." He looked at Ryou sadly. "But being the klutz that I usually am, it's quite possible, you know." A soft sigh followed that statement.

"Don't bring yourself down, Yugi." Ryou said almost immediately. "If you want to know the truth, I don't really believe that you ran against a wall. You just have to be patient until you remember what really happened, ok?" A bright smile was flashed at the tricolor-haired boy, and Yugi nodded softly, feeling relieved.

"How long do you think it will take grandpa to find something to eat?" Yugi wondered, feeling bored already. He had never been the person to just lie in bed and wait. He wanted to do something.

"Why?" Ryou disentangled himself from Yugi, and looked at his friend suspiciously.

After a long and heated argument, Yugi had finally gotten Ryou to agree letting him get up and walk around for a little bit. They decided to take a look around the castle, as Yugi desperately wanted to find out more about it. After all, it had been built by Yami, and what better way to find out more about the pharaoh's secrets and desires than to look around his own creation?

"That's great!" Ryou exclaimed, once they were in the hallway. "Now we can go to that one room I didn't get access to."

Yugi looked at his friend surprised. "When did you take a look around?"

"Well…" Ryou looked at Yugi sheepishly, "…when you were unconscious, Yami was almost the entire time by your side, so I slipped out of your room and searched the castle for a sign of Bakura. I had been hoping that Yami was too preoccupied with worrying about you to keep all his securities up tight. Sadly, I was wrong. There were two rooms I couldn't enter." He looked at the floor gloomily, then continued in a rush, almost stumbling over the words: "Well, one of them surely was Yami's bedroom; he won't have Bakura locked up in there. But the second one…that might be were he keeps his prisoners. I couldn't enter, but he might let you enter. I'm quite sure he gave you the permission to go wherever you want to in the castle; even in that room. We've got to get in there. I'm quite sure that's where 'Kura's at. Please?" Ryou looked at Yugi with big, puppy-dog eyes.

Yugi smiled. He'd do anything to see his friends happy. "Sure." He added a verbal agreement. As soon as the word had left his lips, he was dragged through some hallways by his eager friend. Heavily breathing, they slithered to a halt in front of a black door. Yugi bent over, trying to catch his breath. His limbs were hurting from the sudden movement.

"I'm sorry." Ryou said, eyes wide as he realized that Yugi had only just a few moments ago woken up, and probably shouldn't do stunts like that yet. "Do you want to sit down for a little bit?" Ryou wanted to know, his concern for his friend being more important than finding his boyfriend right now.

"No, I'm fine." Yugi panted, his face white, legs trembling and sweat drops beginning to from at his forehead.

"Are you sure?" Ryou asked, not at all convinced.

"Yes, I'm sure." Yugi repeated, a little irritated. "Now, let's go and take a peek inside." He went to the door, fully expecting Ryou to be wrong about the door opening for him, but surprisingly, as soon as he touched the handle, the door opened for him, and allowed the two of them to enter.

"It opened, it opened, it opened!" Ryou cheered, before peeking inside.

The first thing they could make out in the sparely lit room was… themselves. All the walls were covered with mirrors, and each one of them showed the two hikaris.

"What the-" Ryou exclaimed confused. He'd been expecting chains, books, beds,… everything but mirrors.

"Strange." Yugi agreed, fully stepping into the room and looking around. Save for the mirrors, it was entirely empty, though.

"We've got to take a look around." Ryou stated, and began walking up and down the room, inspecting the ceiling and floor, wanting to find something, anything that could hint at Bakura.

"Ryou, the room's empty." Yugi stated softly, feeling sorry for his friend. "Let's go back to my room. I'm sure grandpa's already looking for me."

"No! He's in here. I know it. Please Yugi?" Ryou's eyes looked at the other hikari desperately. Yugi sighed, and commenced to look around as well, not expecting to find anything but wanting to help his friend.

"Thank you." Ryou said softly, as he turned around and looked into the mirror, hoping to see something in them that he had not seen when looking around the room. "Y-yugi? I I th-think y-you've g-got to see th-this."

Yugi turned around to see his friend staring dazedly at the mirror in front of him. "I'm quite sure it's not that bad, Ryou. I mean your hair looks alright, your skin has gotten a little taint, and your clothes are not ripped in any places. Bakura will like the view." Yugi stated, believing Ryou was in a state of shock because of what he looked like right now. "It's just the nerves. Don't worry about it."

"I'm not talking about the way I look!" Ryou yelled exasperatedly, and turned to look at his friend angrily. "'Kura's in there!"

"What?" Yugi asked, quite sure he had misunderstood the other hikari.

"Ba-ku-ra i-s i-n th-e-r-e." Ryou stated slowly, as if talking to a little child.

"I'm not stupid, you know. You can talk like any other civilized person." Yugi said, a pout forming on his lips. Then he walked over to his friend, and looked at the mirror himself. "He locked the prisoners in a mirror!" he exclaimed surprised and somewhat excited. He didn't know how his dark half had done it, but he was quite sure it had taken a lot of work and magic. There was a room inside of the mirror, or maybe he should say there was a prison cell. On the right was a bed, where Bakura was currently residing on, fast asleep; to the left stood a table, on top of it laid a piece of bred and stood a cup of water. That was all that could be found in the room.

Ryou stepped forward, trying to walk through the mirror. With a tiny squeak and a buzzing light he was thrown back, landing on his back a few feet away. "Ouch!" He exclaimed, sitting back up and rubbing his head. "Damn it! He put a shield on it!"

"Are you alright?" Yugi asked concerned.

"Yeah. The only thing damaged is my pride." Ryou chuckled, and got up to join his friend once again. "Do you think you can disable the shield?"

"I'm not sure." Yugi answered truthfully, while staring at the shield that was separating them from Bakura. "If I try to use any of the puzzle's powers, Yami will know for sure. I'd be borrowing his powers, after all. I don't think he'd very much appreciate me using his powers to break through his own shield."

"If you ask me, he'll let you do it. He wants you to be happy; after all he's in love with you!" Ryou exclaimed encouragingly.

Yugi blushed. "How can you be so sure he's in love with me?" he wanted to know again, sighing. "I mean, I never noticed anything."

"Well…" Ryou laughed good-heartedly "…that's because you were too blind to see."

"Great." Yugi made a poor attempt to growl at his friend. "And what if you're wrong?"

"I'm never wrong." Ryou stated, sounding for once quite sure of himself.

"Very well." Yugi sighed once again. "I'll try to get through the barrier. I just want you to know that in case of my death **you** won't inherit my duel deck." He added, trying to get rid of his nervousness. How could Ryou really be so sure that his dark half was in love with him? Yami had never shown any signs of being in love with him. Of course, he'd been quite upset when Yugi had been going out with Tea, but Yugi had never dreamed it possible for the pharaoh to fall in love with somebody like him.

Slowly, Yugi reached out to touch the mirror-glass. It rippled underneath his touch, but the force field that Yami had put on the mirror to keep his prisoners from escaping and outsiders from entering was not reacting yet. And then, Yugi could feel it slowly dissolving, leaving him the choice if he really wanted to enter this room or not. So, Ryou had been right after all!

Yugi looked at his friend expectantly, and asked unsurely: "We'll be able to get back out once we're inside, won't we?"

"I'm quite sure, he'll not let you die in there. After all, he's-"

"Yes, yes. I know. He's in love with me." Yugi interrupted, not wanting his friend to rub it in once more. The more often Ryou was right in his assumptions, the more Yugi really believed in what his friend was saying, and he really couldn't understand how he could have been so blind. He was supposed to be the light, the pure one out of Yami and him; why had he not realized his darkness' agony? He would have been able to save all his friends so much pain if he had just realized it in time.

Ryou looked slightly hurt at Yugi's curt interruption, but forgave his friend right away, knowing fully well it would take Yugi some time to get used to. "Let's go inside then, shall we?"

Yugi nodded, relieved that Ryou was not mad at him. Then, the two of them took each others' hands, just to be sure, and stepped forward, right through the mirror.

"Who's there?" A cold voice sneered, and the formerly asleep tomb-robber turned around to angrily face the intruders. At the sight of the two hikaris, his gaze softened. "Ryou?"

"'Kura!" the white haired hikari yelled happily, as he threw himself at his yami. "I was so worried he really killed you. But I knew he wouldn't, I just knew it!" Ryou started sobbing, happy to finally be reunited with Bakura.

His yami was quite uncomfortable trying to comfort Ryou. His hands wandered over Ryou's back in what he hoped was a soothing motion. "Shh, don't cry, little one, don't cry."

Yugi pretended to be studying the wall, his cheeks tinted red, as he was trying not to listen to Bakura and his friend. That was when he realized the room was not as empty as he had thought when looking at it from the outside. The walls consisted out of several drawers and closets, and he began curiously pulling out, respectively open one after the other. In one of the drawers lay carefully folded shirts and pants, in the other was stored a small TV, even a shower and a toilet were carefully fit into the small room. _Amazing_, Yugi thought. Yami had created a masterpiece. But then, the pharaoh had always planned everything carefully down to the smallest detail. Yami was a perfectionist.

Finally, Yugi came across a list with names on it. He studied it. The first few names were crossed out. _Hmm, I've got the feeling I know this people. _Yugi frowned, while trying to think of where he could have met them. _Oh, now I remember! They are some of my former classmates! _He scrunched his nose, while trying to picture the right faces to the names. He had never really had any kind of relationship with his classmates. Of course, after Yami had been around and after what had happened to Ushio and to the other bullies, he'd been treated nicely by everyone. They had been afraid of him. But they had never tried to help him when he'd not yet had the puzzle. They had never helped him against the bullies. _They didn't care at all, _Yugi thought dejectedly.

"Bakura?" He finally asked, wanting to know why the other yami had a list of his former classmates. They were not important anymore, after all. School hadn't existed anymore ever since Yami took over.

"Yes?" Bakura asked, still trying to comfort Ryou, who had, at hearing Yugi's voice, considerably calmed down, and was now looking at Yugi himself.

"What are you having this list for? And why are some of the names crossed out?" Yugi asked.

"Well…" Bakura looked uncomfortable "…these are the people Yami's got me working on."

Ryou untangled himself from Bakura's grip and looked at his dark half as confused as Yugi felt at that moment. "What are you talking about, 'Kura? What did Yami order you to do?"

Bakura sighed, knowing fully well that he couldn't lie to his light. "First off, the pharaoh didn't order me to do anything. He asked me if I wanted to do, and I agreed, if you want to know. I had some unfinished business with them, anyways."

Yugi slowly began to comprehend what Bakura was trying to say. "You mean, you killed those that are already crossed out?" he asked, just to be sure.

Bakura smiled that infamous smile of his, his teeth sparkling in the light. "Of course. They deserved it, you know. After all that they did to you." He was looking at Ryou when saying that, but Yugi somehow felt that the yami meant him as well. Ryou had really managed to change his boyfriend, Yugi noted impressed. Bakura had not yet threatened him, and he had even followed out Yami's orders, no matter how he himself put it.

"But why did Yami ask you to kill them?" Yugi asked.

"Out of the same reasons I and Marik are hunting them down." Bakura stated off-handedly. "Because he doesn't like the way they were treating you. And he's damn right, if you ask me!"

"Marik is in here as well?" Ryou interjected.

"Yes. A mirror to the right."

Ryou and Yugi both giggled at that expression. "You really must have gotten used to this room." Ryou realized.

"Off course. It's quite comfortable. Built out of shadows, you know. It can take on any shape that I want just by me thinking about it." To prove his point, the tomb-robber magically changed the color of the walls to a brown, his hikari's eye color, and let some flowers appear in the middle of the room.

"Wow!" Ryou yelled, picking up the flowers hastily. "Thank you, 'Kura." He then added shyly, smiling at his dark half.

"But why did you change it to a prison cell?" Yugi asked confused.

Bakura shrugged his shoulders. "Reminds me of home."

"I think it's time to leave now." Another voice spoke up, his deep timbre sending shivers down Yugi's spine. There, at the doorway back to the real world stood Yami, dressed in his usual black leather attire, his red eyes almost glowing in the dimly lit room, impassively leaning against the doorframe.

Yugi knew right away that he had not just appeared in that moment. Yami had been standing there, watching them, listening to them for quite a while. But why? Why had he not said anything up to now? The little hikari gave his dark half another puzzled look before stepping up to him, ready to return to the real world. Ryou followed him a little hesitatingly.

Yami sighed. "Don't worry Ryou. I already opened another portal to your room. You can go visit your boyfriend anytime you want." It almost seemed as if he wanted to add something else, but he didn't; instead, he turned around, and walked out of the room. Yugi and Ryou, smiling more brightly at the offer, followed him. The last thing they heard out of Bakura's room was "I'll get back to work now, pharaoh."

"Why are you sending them to kill all those people?" Yugi asked, having been reminded of it again by Bakura's last sentence. "They didn't do anything wrong." He really didn't want all those people to die simply because they hadn't been nice to him when he'd been going to school.

"Why don't you let me decide if they did something wrong or not, little one. I only punish those that deserve it." Yami stated, sounding so final that Yugi didn't dare asking another question. Silently, he followed his dark half. Had he really been the reason for Yami's actions or had the pharaoh other reasons that they didn't know about?

-Tbc-

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**Istas:** Hi! You already had me worried. For a moment I thought you didn't like me anymore when I didn't get any review from you. I'm sorry about your failing grade though. What class did you get it in? I'm looking forward to your own story! I hope it has a happy ending, though, I don't like stories with sad endings too much. I hope you're not disappointed that I made Yami let Yugi forget the whole incident but I thought it would speak for Yami to not let Yugi see him cry. He will remember after some time, though. Thanks for your reviews, I'm already waiting for your next ;-)! Also thanks for telling me that I don't need to write a lemon for my other story. To tell you the truth, the only reason why I even try to do so is because of me having declared this story to be an R-rated story. I thought everybody would expect a lemon scene in this kind of story. I only put R out of fear any other rating might be too low for my rape- and suicide-scene. In the country where I come from we are not so strict about ratings, and I therefore don't really understand when I have to put which rating. By the way, do you think I need to put up what the Japanese words I use in my stories are meaning? I haven't done so so far, because it seems as if almost anybody knows it anyways, but I've been thinking about putting the translations up on my profile page. What do you think?

**Strega (): **Thanks for your review, and your opinion on what I have written. I greatly appreciate it. And now to explain my reasoning: Yugi was just a little bit disappointed in his grandpa because of Yami crying. He was not thinking about anything else, and he knows that Yami hardly ever cries, so he blames his grandfather for that. Also, he doesn't completely understand his grandpa's reasoning. That's why he was a little bit disappointed. But you're of course right, grandpa just wants what he thinks is best for Yugi, and I don't think he's cowardly either. That's just Yami, trying to break through the cold exterior Sugoruko has built up. It's just because of the "game" the two of them are playing. I hope you'll review this chapter as well. I'd like to see if what I've written was understandable.

**violettesMeerschwein:** Hallo! Nein, bin nicht aus Deutschland sondern aus Österreich. Hoffe, dass du trotzdem weiterhin meine Geschichte liest und mir das nicht vorhältst. Yugi und Yami kommen auf jeden Fall zusammen. Ich mag keine Geschichten mit schlechtem Ende. Danke übrigens für dein Review! Habe mich sehr gefreut.

**xmiso ():** Hope my update was fast enough. I'd like to keep my hair, lol. Thanks for your review!

**AngelTakio:** Thank you for all of your reviews! It makes me happy to know you liked my story enough to review each chapter for me! I hope you keep the work up, and continue reading my chapters! By the way, thanks for letting your friends read my story. Tell me what they said about it (only if it's good news, though. Bad criticism always brings me down, and I might not continue writing on this story for a long time).

**Darkyami7: **Thanks for your review! I like fluffy chapters as much as you. Sadly, I have so much to tell that there is no real fluff in this chapter, unless you consider the short R/B-scene. I'll try to put in some fluff in the next chapter, though. I just wanted to finally bring Bakura back. And I really like unexpected happenings, that's why I came up with the grandpa-thing. If I can think of something creative, I like to put it into my stories.


	7. Chapter 7

**Title: **Just for You – Chapter 7

**Author:** Erudit

**Pairings:** YY/Y ; R/B, S/J and M/M

**Genre: **Romance/Angst

**Thank you for reviewing my story!**

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_Blablabla_- Thoughts

/blablabla/- Yami and Yugi talking through mind link

"blablabla"- normal talking

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Last time:

"Why don't you let me decide if they did something wrong or not, little one. I only punish those that deserve it." Yami stated, sounding so final that Yugi didn't dare asking another question. Silently, he followed his dark half.

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Did his opinion not matter? Was he not important enough to decide what was good for him and what was not? Did he not deserve to know the truth?

Yugi stared at the floor in front of him, not really seeing anything, as he continued to trot after his dark half.

It didn't make sense. Most of the time the pharaoh treated him like a little child. Yet Ryou seemed to believe that Yami was in love with him. How was that possible? You could only fall in love with somebody you saw at least as a young adult, couldn't you?

Finally Yugi looked up from the tiles on the floor to gaze at his surroundings, and noted to his surprise that they were talking a wrong turn. That wasn't the way to his room!

"Isn't my room over there?" Yugi asked and gestured to his left.

"Indeed it is, little one." Yami responded, but still went to the right. "However we are not going to your room." The pharaoh began to explain. "We are on our way to the dining hall."

"The dining hall?" Yugi asked weakly. Suddenly he was not so hungry anymore. Why did this place have to be so vast? Yes, there had been a time when he had dreamed of living in a big house but that had been before he had experienced what it was really like. And why couldn't they just eat at his room? Why did they have to eat in the dining hall? Staying in all these new places made him feel uncomfortable.

Yugi stopped dead and turned to look at the other direction. His room was just around the corner. He wanted to be back in his room. He didn't like this maze of hallways that didn't seem to end, these large rooms that you could get lost in…this Yami that seemed so far out of reach.

"Little one, you would not want your food to get cold, would you?" the pharaoh asked. But it was no real question, Yugi noted. It was a statement. It actually meant: Yugi, hurry up. It was just an impolite and even more impatient statement in a nice wrapper. Yugi didn't like that question either.

"I'm not hungry anymore." He muttered darkly, and fully turned to face in the other direction. "I think I'm going to go to my room instead." He was actually a little bit tired. Their excursion through the entire palace must have been too much for him just after waking up.

"You're not hungry?" The pharaoh asked, and Yugi could for the first time hear something like surprise in his voice. He could more feel than see the shadows surrounding him once again, trying to find out what was wrong.

Yugi sighed. He finally understood that the shadows circling around him were not entirely good. He had always seen them as something to proof his dark half still cared for him. In reality their only purpose was to make Yami's life easier. Why bother trying to convince Yugi to spill the truth if the shadows could find out in a snap? Why bother arguing when shadows were always ready to defend your case?

"No, I'm not." Yugi answered evenly. He needed some time to think. "I'm tired. I'm going to go back to my room. You two just enjoy yourself and eat something."

He walked away from the two of them. Ryou tried to call him back, his voice sounding a little bit frantic, but Yugi insisted on returning to his room. There were so many thoughts and feelings cursing through his veins. He needed time alone to sort them out.

Yami said nothing. But Yugi could faintly feel sadness in the back of the link. He wondered if the pharaoh had let him feel it on purpose or if the feeling had been too strong to be blocked. You could never be sure with your dark half.

Once Yugi had reached his room, he let himself fall onto his comfortable bed. Unconsciously he noted that the purple covers had been chanced into white ones with the Dark Magician on them. _It would be interesting to know if he changed them himself or if his shadows did it._

Yugi stared at the ceiling. Since it was getting dark, the stars that the pharaoh had put on it were starting to glow. With a soft smile Yugi began tracing the stars with his eyes, as he thought about the different things he had learned so far.

If Ryou was right about Yami loving him, and somehow Yugi had the feeling that the other hikari was right, then Yami shouldn't be treating him like that, should he? And if Yami really loved him, then there should be a way to get back his old self. What he was seeing now surely was a part of the pharaoh, and probably had always been, but if Yami continued living like this, then it would eventually destroy them both. Yugi wouldn't be able to live with Yami killing all the people he cared about. And the sadness that must have provoked Yami to change into what he was now would eventually destroy the pharaoh as well. Nobody could live on sadness and loneliness alone. It was time that Yugi began acting on his knowledge. There had to be a way to get out of the vicious circle that he had seemingly forced the pharaoh into. After all, if he had been the reason for Yami's change in the first place, then surely he could be the reason for Yami's change back as well.

But how would he be able to achieve his goal? He had no knowledge of these things and especially no experience with love-matters.

There was this other problem that arose every time Yugi thought about getting the old Yami back: what would people do once the pharaoh stopped threatening them? Would they seek revenge for their lost ones? Would they try to prosecute him?

This was something Yugi couldn't let happen. Not that Yami would let anything happen. Those people would probably all be dead before they could even conjure an adequate plan. But Yugi didn't want to live in fear for the rest of his life. He wanted to enjoy the beautiful nature around them, and more importantly he didn't want Yami to constantly worry about him. Otherwise he'd soon be forced to live in the famous golden cage, and that was an experience he'd happily pass by.

But how would they ever be able to solve this problem? Was there any place on earth that Yami had not conquered in one of his moods? Was there any place where they would not be known? It seemed almost impossible.

_But there has to be a way. There always is a solution. It just has to be found._

Yugi frowned, thinking about possible ways out of the dilemma.

Naturally, they'd always be able to move completely into the shadow realm but this thought didn't seem too appealing to the little light. No; there had to be another way.

_Maybe Yami's shadows are strong enough to make them all forget? But how do we explain all these deaths, and all the time that has passed by?_

Yugi sighed forlornly. He couldn't come up with anything good. Disappointed, he decided to let the topic rest for a while. There were other things he had to think about.

For instance: His passing out that evening when they had gone to the park. What had really happened? He was quite sure that he'd never run against a wall, and somehow he had the feeling that something important had happened that night. But what had it been? He couldn't remember anything no matter how hard he tried. Had Yami made him forget? But why should he?

_So many questions and no answers._

Why had Yami let Bakura and Marik live? They were mortal enemies, and still they were allowed to remain amongst the living, whereas their former class-mates were doomed to die a painful death - judging by the look on Bakura's face. Yugi didn't get it. Had the pharaoh seen some similarity in the three of them? Were they allowed to live because they were as much in love with their hikaris as Yami was himself? Had he kept them alive to keep the hope of Yugi eventually loving him back alive as well? It seemed like a possible reason but Yugi had never seen his dark half acting solely on his emotions. There had always been an ulterior motive behind his moves.

And why had Yami killed Seto after all this time? Had he suddenly not been useful anymore? Would Seto have been killed just like Tea and all these others if he hadn't saved Yugi back then?

Why had Yami let Ryou stay at the castle? Was it because Yugi had been lonely? But how had Yami known that it was Yugi's wish in the first place? The only person Yugi had told his desire to had been his grandpa. Had Yami listened in on their talk? Or had Sugoruko told the pharaoh about it? But why would Sugoruko choose to tell his grandson's secrets? What had Yami done to secure Sugoroku's help? Why was grandpa even living with Yami? Had he been with the pharaoh the entire time? And why did he have the feeling as if his black-out had had something to do with his grandpa?

Yugi sagged back down on the bed from his sitting position. All this questions had made him really tired. And before he knew it, the little hikari had nodded off.

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"Yugi…

Yugi…"

Somebody was shaking him, Yugi noted sleepily as he began to wake up. What was going on? Where was he? Oh, yeah, right…he was in Yami's oh so great palace.

And who was this person calling his name? Was he supposed to know this person?

_Kaiba's brother?_

"Ugh…Mokuba?" Yugi's eyes fluttered open and squinted when they met with the bright glow of a flashlight.

"So, you're finally up." Mokuba noted, though his voice lacked the usual self-assurance. Mokuba's eyes were red with unshed tears, his lips were slightly trembling, and his hands were balled into fists.

"What is it, Mokuba?" Yugi asked softly, suddenly not knowing how to deal with this pile of sadness in front of him.

"You've got to help him. You're the only one that can. Oh, please help him! I'd do anything if you just…"

Yugi held up a hand to stop Mokuba's rambling.

"Help who?" Yugi asked softly. Was Mokuba talking about his brother? Wasn't Kaiba dead? Hadn't Yami killed him?

"Seto, of course! Please help him." Mokuba's eyes widened and took on the form of the puppy eyes that he and the three hikaris were so famous for. Not that he would have needed them in this case. Yugi would have helped even without the eyes being put to use.

"Do you know where he is at?" Yugi wanted to know. There was always the possibility that Mokuba simply didn't know of his brother's death yet. But Yugi sincerely hoped that Seto was still alive. He wanted to be able to forget what he had seen that night. His yami's cruelty and Seto's screams…

"He's in one of the rooms downstairs." Mokuba gushed, already hopping down from Yugi's bed, and wanting to drag Yugi to where his brother was at.

"Wait, wait!" Yugi panted, trying to stop the other before they had left his room. He had just noticed that he was wearing bunny pajamas. He needed to change before going to help Kaiba.

"What do you want me to help him with anyways?" Yugi asked while disappearing in the bathroom to get changed. "Is he hurt?" _Duh, he was nearly shredded to pieces. Of course he is hurt!_ Yugi's unconsciousness yelled.

"Do we need bandages and other medication?" Yugi had already started emptying his storage even before Mokuba responded in the affirmative.

"He is in a lot of pain." Mokuba mumbled once they had left the room and were looking for his older brother. "The pharaoh is giving him some drugs to keep the pain down but it isn't really helping. And he won't let me fetch a doctor."

Yugi nodded as he listened to Mokuba, all the time steeling himself for what was to come. What would Seto look like? Yugi had seen how the skin was pulled of his flesh. Were people able to heal completely when injured this bad? Was Yami's magic helping Seto recover or was this just another part of the pharaoh's game? Was Seto supposed to survive or was he meant to die in pain? _No! I won't let that happen! I will do anything to help Kaiba. If not for Seto himself or for his brother, then at least for Joey!_

Yugi had known for quite some time that his blonde-haired friend was secretly in love with the CEO. After Yami had turned to the dark side they didn't have any time to confess their feelings, but Yugi was sure that they were mutual. He had seen the way those two looked at each other when arguing. They, just like everybody else he knew, deserved the chance for a happy ending.

_Even if I have to oppose mou hitori no boku himself, I will try to help Kaiba. _Yugi vowed while listening to Mokuba's explanation of the different wounds and cuts that his big brother suffered from. Surely Yami would not kill Yugi if he really loved the hikari, would he?

They finally arrived in front of a dark door. Yugi looked around himself. He didn't notice these surroundings. He'd probably never been in this part of the palace before. He wondered if Ryou had met Kaiba. After all, the other hikari had said he had searched the castle from top to bottom for Bakura. But then again…Yami surely had the power to change the castle the same way that he was able to change the streets of the city. Maybe you could only go to those parts of the castle you were supposed to go to? But that would mean that Yami always knew where he was going to. Had Yami wanted him to find Bakura to know that Ryou's and Malik's yami both were safe? Was Yugi's every step planned by Yami? Had Mokuba just been allowed to get him because Yami had wanted him to see that Seto was still alive? Did they even have a free will in this palace or were they manipulated like puppets?

Mokuba opened the door quietly and peeked inside. After seeing that Seto was still alone, he opened the door a little bit wider to allow Yugi to enter as well. The two of them stepped inside. This room looked quite different from Yugi's own and even from Bakura's. It could not be manipulated by your thoughts. It was just like a prison cell. Seto lay asleep on a heap of blankets on the floor, his breathing slightly uneven. A moan escaping his lips every few breaths. He was in pain. There was nothing else in the room except a small bowl of water with a slightly red-brown handkerchief in it.

When Yugi stepped closer he could see scars and flesh wounds tainting Seto's skin. They were everywhere on his body, reminding Yugi of where the shadows had ripped of parts of Seto's skin. The hikari wondered if the scars would ever completely disappear. He sat down next to the former CEO and touched the skin tentatively.

Almost immediately blue eyes opened and narrowed themselves at the hikari. Then, Kaiba seemed to realize who was sitting in front of him, and he closed his eyes in pain as he forced himself to utter a "Yugi".

Yugi nodded and tried to smile encouragingly, until he remembered that Seto couldn't see it. The CEO's eyes were still closed. "Yeah, it's me." He stated softly, his voice barely above a whisper because he was suddenly afraid it would hurt the man in front of him if he talked any louder.

Then, Yugi began searching his bag for the various bandages and creams and pills that he had taken along. He looked at Mokuba questioningly. He was afraid he'd just hurt Kaiba by trying to treat his wounds. But Mokuba simply nodded and smiled at him gratefully. The young boy had sat down next to his brother as well, and his hand softly stroke Kaiba's hip.

Yugi examined the cuts on Kaiba's face to see if they were clean. Apparently Mokuba had already washed them out. But, just to be save, Yugi took out a sponge and the bottle of iodine that he had taken along. Kaiba winced and hissed when Yugi began his work, but otherwise he showed no sign of discomfort.

After the wounds were satisfactory clean Yugi began covering the most serious spots with band-aid. Then, he began working on Seto's hands. They were still slightly open. Kaiba probably couldn't touch anything the way they were now. Yugi wrapped them tightly in bandages after freeing them of dirt and blood. He just hoped he had not come too late. He wasn't sure if Kaiba would survive blood poisoning in the state he was in now.

Quietly Yugi worked his way down from Seto's head to toes, all the while trying to hurt Kaiba as little as possible. When he was finally done after about four hours, Yugi had gotten quite hungry. He hadn't eaten anything for several days after all.

"When was the last time your brother ate something?" Yugi asked Mokuba as quietly as possible, afraid to wake the CEO, who had fallen asleep during the last hour. Mokuba thought about it four a few seconds and then told Yugi that his brother hadn't had anything to eat apart from porridge. And even that he had taken quite unwillingly. Yugi wondered if Seto had internal wounds as well, or if he had simply been in too much pain to want to eat.

"Do you think you could find something for the three of us to eat, Mokuba?" Yugi finally suggested. "The best would probably be a soup. I don't know if he's able to chew his food…but he needs to get something warm into his system."

Mokuba nodded sincerely, and stood up to search for the kitchen. Yugi turned back to the CEO once the younger one had left. He noticed that blue eyes had opened again. Apparently they had not been silently enough. Seto Kaiba had woken up.

"Do you think you have any internal wounds?" Yugi decided to ask now that Mokuba wasn't there to hear them. He hadn't asked this question before because he hadn't wanted to frighten the younger boy even more than he already was. Mokuba was quite worried about his big brother.

"I…I don't think so." Kaiba winced at his try to speak. His voice sounded hoarse because of the long time it had not been used and because of the pain he was suffering from.

"Mokuba told me Yami has been giving you painkillers. He said they wouldn't help at all." Yugi said softly, though the statement sounded more like a question the way he had said it.

"They are not strong enough. But they help a little." Seto whispered. Yugi nodded, slightly relieved that Yami was at least trying to help. He was quite sure that Yami was not giving weak drugs on purpose. Then, Yugi began looking through his things in hopes of finding some painkillers that might help the former CEO.

"Thank you." Seto interrupted the silence after some time.

"Huh?" Yugi looked up and frowned in confusion. "What for?" Then, thinking it was because of him putting all the band-aids and bandages on Kaiba's wounds, he shrugged his shoulders and said: "Everybody would have done that. Your brother would have too, if he'd had access to all this stuff."

"That's not what I meant." Seto drew in a sharp breath as he tried to shift a little bit more on his right shoulder. "Thank you for stopping him. If he hadn't noticed your presence, then I would probably dead. He…" Seto drew in another ragged breath, and his face had turned even whiter than before. He had almost reached his limit. "…only stopped because of you. Because you are more important to him than anything else." Eyes were closed tightly as the CEO forced himself to continue talking. "You are the only one who has the power to stop him. Please, Yugi…" Then Kaiba passed out.

Yugi rushed back to the CEO's side to check his pulse, afraid that he might have died. Kaiba was still breathing but his white face proved the fact that he had over-exerted himself. He needed more than anything to rest. Yugi took the handkerchief out of the water-bowl, and softly began wetting the CEO's face in hopes of somehow easing Kaiba's pain.

When Mokuba finally returned to the small room, Kaiba's breathing had evened out a little bit, and he was asleep instead of passed out.

Mokuba stepped up to Yugi and Seto hesitantly. In his hands he held a tray. On it were another portion of porridge and two giant plates with steak and French fries on them. "The-the pharaoh…" Mokuba stuttered when he noticed Yugi's surprised look. _So Yami really knows about me being here._

"He, he said that you are to return to your room once you're done eating. He is waiting for you." Mokuba continued softly, and gazed at Yugi with tears in his eyes. "I hope he won't hurt you for having helped me. I never wanted anything to happen to you." He stated unhappily.

"It's alright." Yugi assured the other right away. "Don't worry. Nothing bad is going to happen to me." Yugi just wished he could be as sure as he forced himself to sound. In the pit of his stomach he was worried about his welfare as well. "I just hope Seto will feel better soon. You two have to visit me once he is able to move, ok?"

Mokuba nodded with a bright smile on his face, the thought of his brother being well again scaring away any trace of discontent and fear. Then the younger one started eating like a starved man. Yugi followed his example, forcing himself to stop thinking about his dark half for the moment. It was too late to change what he had done anyways. And, as he had told himself before, he would have helped Kaiba even if he had known that Yami would be furious because of it. It was part of his personality to help everybody.

-tbc-

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It doesn't really seem like a chapter to me but since I haven't updated for so long, I thought I'd put it up anyways so that we finally have our beloved Seto back. I'm already working on the next chapter; hence you hopefully won't have to wait for long. I promise there will be more action and especially more Yami/Yugi in the following chapter, so please be patient.

I've been told we're not allowed to answer to your reviews anymore, so please don't be mad at me for not answering any of them personally right now. I just don't want my story to get taken down. They have been really great though! **Thank you!**

(And please continue reviewing, puppy eyes)


	8. Chapter 8

**Title: **Just for You – Chapter 8

**Author:** Erudit

**Pairings:** YY/Y; R/B, S/J and M/M

**Genre: **Romance/Angst

**Erudit:** "Aaaaargh! I'm so mad at myself. I sit down in front of my computer to write down one of my ideas for my stories…and what do I do? Instead of writing I'm surfing the net and reading other fanfiction! Aaaaaaargh!" _Erudit hits her head on the table, wailing. _"Please forgive me my kind readers!"

_Blablabla_ - Thoughts

/blablabla/ - Yami and Yugi talking through mind link

"blablabla" - normal talking

Last time:

"The-the pharaoh…" Mokuba stuttered, "He, he said that you are to return to your room once you're done eating. He is waiting for you." Mokuba continued softly, and gazed at Yugi with tears in his eyes. "I hope he won't hurt you for having helped me. I never wanted anything to happen to you." He stated unhappily.

Yugi softly closed the door behind him, and began looking up and down the hallway for the right direction back to his room. He had no idea which way he had come from. He hadn't paid any attention when Mokuba had led the way.

As if Yami had known (or actually he probably had known), shadows began to appear all around Yugi, lifting him up, and carried him back to his room. It wasn't really comfortable, as a matter of fact they were quite cold, but Yugi didn't complain. He was put down in front of the door to his room.

Yugi took a deep breath to steel himself for whatever was to come. _Hopefully he isn't too mad. _He raised his hand slowly to the door handle, and was about to open the door when suddenly:

"Psht, Yugi wait!" It was Ryou.

"I've thought about our problem."

"Our problem?" Yugi scrunched up his nose confused. What was Ryou talking about?

Ryou rolled his eyes. "How to get the old Yami back, of course!"

"Oh!" Yugi exclaimed excited. Then he turned thoughtful: "But what if he never changed? If there is no **old** and **new** Yami? Maybe he's been like that all the time and we just didn't realize."

"It doesn't matter!" Ryou interrupted Yugi's musings happily.

"Huh? Come again?" Now Yugi didn't understand anything anymore.

"What I've come up with will change the pharaoh, no matter if he was different before he fell in love with you or not. It always does." Ryou began looking dreamily at something behind Yugi that the other couldn't see. _Why is he looking at the door in this funny way?_

"And what is this oh-so-brilliant plan about?" Yugi asked, doubting its effectiveness. The last time Ryou had had a plan Yugi had ended up falling all over the place, and bumping into Yami several times. He might as well had broken a few limbs back then.

Ryou ignored Yugi's sarcasm and exclaimed proudly: "You will seduce him." He said it as if it was the most normal thing to do, although for some people it probably was.

"What the fuck?" Yugi yelled in shock, his eyes as big as plates. He stumbled a few feet backwards in surprise until his back hit the wall. Seducing somebody was most certainly nothing Yugi had ever specialized in.

"Shhh!" Ryou gesticulated wildly for him to be silent. "He'll hear you." But it was already too late. The door next to Yugi flew open, and Yami slowly stepped outside, his crimson eyes blazing.

"Ugh, hi Yami!" Ryou chirped, trying to sound unsuspicious. He laughed nervously at the cold stare he received from the pharaoh.

"Yugi, go inside." Atemu ordered, his hand raised and pointing into Yugi's room.

"You're coming with me, aren't you?" Yugi asked softly, and pulled on the pharaoh's sleeve. He was afraid of what might happen to Ryou if he wasn't around to stop his dark half. After a short pause and with a last threatening growl directed at Ryou Atemu followed the younger one, and shut the door behind them.

"What did Ryou want of you?" Atemu asked as soon as they were alone, his voice dangerously low, signaling that he rather demanded an answer that asked for it.

"Uh…well…" Yugi stammered nervously, and slowly moved away from Atemu towards the bed. Obviously, he couldn't tell what Ryou had really suggested. Who knew what Yami did, once he found out what they had been talking about. He had to think of something else. Yugi sat down uncomfortably, and bent down to remove his sneakers, hoping for an inspiration to hit him.

"Look at me, Yugi!" the pharaoh demanded, and knelt down in front of Yugi. Their eyes locked, and Yugi knew he wouldn't be able to lie. He had never been able to when looking into Yami's crimson eyes. He gulped involuntarily.

"What…did…he…say?" Atemu then repeated slowly as if talking to a child. "You know I could just find it out myself by reading your mind." He gently reminded.

"That wouldn't be nice." Yugi pouted. "You shouldn't go around forcing yourself upon others, Yami." He reprimanded his dark half in hopes of diverting Yami's interest from the actual topic. It worked (for the moment at least).

"You talk as if I would rape them." Atemu said with a scowl.

"Well, in a way you do. You intrude onto everyone's privacy and secrets." Yugi stated accusingly, and then more softly: "Do you really want to know everything? I'd think it horrible. What point is there in living if you know what's going to happen beforehand? Wouldn't it all be like a big deja-vu?"

"I simply don't like surprises, little one." Atemu explained and looked pained for a second. But as soon as Yugi had seen the emotion it was gone again, replaced by Yami's famous emotionless mask.

"Why?" Yugi wondered. "Not all surprises are bad, you know." His dark half didn't look very convinced. Yugi sighed and thought about how to show his yami. There had to be something he could do that the pharaoh wasn't prepared for, something he might like.

Then, remembering Ryou's words, he got an idea. "Why don't you sit down next to me, mou hitori no boku?" He offered softly, and padded the place on the bed right next to him innocently. Atemu looked at him a little bit suspiciously but did as he had been asked. Yugi smiled.

"So you're not going to tell me what Ryou said to you?" Yami recapitulated.

"It really was nothing important. He was just telling me some kind of weird joke…" Yugi lied, glad that Yami wasn't looking at him anymore. He had forgotten about the mind-link, though.

/Don't lie, hikari./ Yami gently chided. Though Yami didn't necessarily sound angry, Yugi still felt immensely guilty and hoped his dark half could feel it.

"I won't force you to tell me something you so obviously don't want to talk about. But I expect you to tell me everything that is of real importance, do you understand Yugi?" the former pharaoh looked at Yugi intently and held his gaze. To strangers it might have sounded like a parental figure talking to a little child, but Yugi knew that Yami always talked like that. Yami was used to being responsible for everything and everyone, remains of his former life as a pharaoh. Yami had always been especially protective of Yugi. There had been no person Yugi had been allowed to associate with before Yami had checked him or her out. Sometimes Yugi had been really annoyed by his dark half's behavior but most of the time he appreciated it. It showed that Yami cared for him. At least that had been what Yugi had thought before Yami had taken over the world. Now Yugi wasn't so sure; if he was to believe Ryou, then Atemu really did all of this simply to protect him from evil. But there was always the slim chance of Ryou being wrong as long as Yami himself hadn't confessed his love for Yugi.

Yugi nodded earnestly. He would have done so even without Yami telling him to. It was a bad habit of his to always tell others about his own problems. He wasn't very good at taking care of himself.

/Now you know that's not true./ Yami's voice once again resounded in Yugi's mind. /You're quite able to take care of yourself. You simply have no need to because you have many good friends. As somebody like you should have./ The last words were spoken with a little bit more fervor than probably should have been. Yugi frowned confused and tilted his head a little bit as he looked up at his dark half. He wondered if Yami had been talking about his former classmates. He had sounded really furious.

/So you'd call yourself a friend of mine?/ Yugi asked instead of inquiring after the reason for Yami's previous words.

The response came immediately: /Of course, aibou. That's what we've always been, isn't it?/ If there was more meaning behind the question, Yami didn't show it.

Yugi found himself smiling at the gentle words, and then decided that now was the perfect moment to act, as Yami had turned slightly away from him and was currently eyeing the tiles on the floor, looking for a creak. Or at least Yami was pretending to.

Yugi straightened up slowly, trying hard to behave and think inconspicuously as to not alarm his dark half. It seemed to work because Yami didn't look up when Yugi slowly moved closer, and Yugi could feel that Yami had closed off the mind-link once again. It was time that Yugi showed the pharaoh that good surprises indeed existed. He stretched a little bit more, and quickly kissed Yami's cheek, making sure though that it was long enough for Yami to realize it to be a kiss. Yugi then slumped back into his original position, trying to look non-fazed as he himself began studying the tiles, a slight blush rising to his cheeks and betraying his feelings.

He felt Yami whirl around and study him. /Wh-what did you do that for?/ Yami asked through the mind link, and Yugi could feel his dark half browsing through his mind to look for the answer himself when Yugi didn't answer right away. Atemu had always been impatient.

Yugi wasn't really mad at his dark half for once again reading his mind. On the contrary, it gave him the chance to find out Yami's own feelings, because when Yami immersed himself in Yugi's feelings he unconsciously allowed Yugi to do the same. The most prominent emotions the hikari could make out were surprise and wondering in the mix with some other feelings that Yugi wasn't able to decipher.

"So you thought you'd show me a pleasant surprise, did you?" Yami wanted to know once he had found the right train of thought in his light's mind. Yugi could feel himself being shut out of his dark half's mind once again.

"You didn't like it?" Yugi asked somewhat surprised. He had been so sure that Yami would like it. Maybe he had listened to Ryou's ideas too much.

"Maybe? Maybe?" Yami yelled, showing that he had still been reading Yugi's thoughts, and that Yugi sadly had not realized this. "What in the name of Ra were you thinking? What would you have done next had I approved of your little show of affection?" The ex-pharaoh spat out the last words as if they disgusted him. "Would you have slept with me?"

"Huh?" was all Yugi managed to get out. He didn't understand what had gotten into Yami all of the sudden. Why was he so angry? It had just been a simple kiss and Yami acted as if he'd just stripteased in front of the ex-pharaoh. "Mou hitori no-"

"No! Don't call me that in a moment like this." Atemu interrupted, his crimson eyes looking sad. Yugi could see that Yami's hands were balled into fists, the nails cutting into his dark half's flesh. Drops of blood as red as Yami's accusing eyes slowly dripped to the floor as Yami turned around and left the room without another word.

Yugi watched the retreat silently, not knowing what to say. He didn't even understand why Yami had gotten so angry. How could Ryou have been so wrong? He had only kissed Atemu's cheek…why had he been so disgusted?

Then, after some time, tears gathered at the corner of Yugi's eyes and he started sobbing into the closest pillow.

Yugi refused to eat that evening. His stomach was still clenching painfully from the happenings of that day, and not even Ryou's coaxing or grandpa's begging could get him to touch any of his food. After about two hours grandpa gave up on Yugi, and the food was carried back outside untouched.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ryou offered once they were alone. Yugi simply shook his head. He was in no mood to talk to anyone for the next few days. Maybe he would just stop talking all together. It seemed like a good idea at the moment.

Ryou sighed. "Very well. You know where to find me in case you change your mind." Yugi nodded, and was left alone to wallow in his misery.

The next time the door opened Yugi was quite sure it was once again either Ryou or grandpa, after all who else should be interested in his well-being? Seto was still too weak to move, and Mokuba would most likely look after his brother. The only other people that cared for him were somewhere in the forest, waiting for him and Ryou to return.

"You know that's not true." Yami's deep baritone voice cut through the air. His dark half had once again read his thoughts. "They are not the only ones who care for you." Yugi didn't respond. He was still too hurt about how Yami had treated him the last time they had talked.

Atemu sighed. "You should eat something."

/I'm not hungry./ Yugi stated, not bothering to speak out loud, and fearing his voice would crack if he did.

Yami sat down on Yugi's bed nevertheless. Yugi stopped breathing, his entire body tensing. What was his dark half going to do? Would Yami hit him?

"I'm sorry." Yami suddenly said. Yugi was so surprised by this that he even turned around to look at his dark half.

"I should not have yelled at you like that. That was uncalled for, and quite without any reason. Please forgive me, little one." Atemu said quietly, his eyes looking sadly at Yugi. The hikari realized it had to have taken a lot of courage for Yami to seek his forgiveness. The ex-pharaoh surely wasn't used to doing so.

"Why did you yell at me like that anyways?" Yugi wanted to know. In his heart he'd already forgiven Yami as soon as the other had asked but he needed to know the answer to his question.

Yami sighed and then asked: "Before I answer the question will you respond to one of my own?" Yugi looked at his dark half confused and Yami rushed to clarify: "It will make my reason easier to explain." Yugi nodded slightly in agreement.

"Did you kiss me because of what Ryou said to you?" Yami asked.

It took Yugi a few seconds to remember what Ryou had told him to do. _You will seduce him._ Yugi turned red like a tomato, suddenly realizing that Yami must have found out about it when reading his mind. "Maybe…" Yugi said unsurely, not knowing how to explain his own thoughts.

Yami seemed to be disappointed, and was about to get up and leave the room again but Yugi, realizing this, gripped his hand immediately, yelling: "Wait, please!" More calmly he added: "Let me explain."

"I'm not sure I want to hear." Atemu said with a flat voice, though tired crimson eyes betrayed the ex-pharaoh's real feelings. Atemu slowly sat back down next to Yugi, his eyes fixed on their locked hands.

"I didn't kiss your cheek because I wanted to seduce you tonight." Yugi said without delay, glad that Yami had not left yet, and trying to set the record straight. "You should know me well enough to realize I wouldn't be able to seduce anybody even if I wanted to."

"Everybody is able to seduce others. Most people simply do not realize it." Atemu corrected his light, but he made no movements to get up.

Yugi frowned slightly, trying to grasp what Yami had just tried to tell him. "Well, anyways…", he then continued, "what I meant when saying **maybe** before was that I might not have had the idea had Ryou not suggested that seducing part."

Yugi looked up at his dark half, trying to see if Yami understood what he was trying to say. "Ryou's words merely initiated the thought but you have to believe me they had nothing to do with the action itself."

"Are you sure?" Atemu asked earnestly, and their eyes met once again. Yugi nodded firmly. Yami smiled and confessed: "I am glad."

"Am I right in supposing that you now already understand the reason for my actions earlier this day?" Yami asked after a few minutes of silence. "Or is an explanation on my behalf needed?"

Yugi blinked at the complicated sentence, and then nodded. "No, I think I understand." He said softly.

"Good." Yami smiled. "How about I tell your grandfather to bring you something to eat now? You must be hungry."

Yugi thought about it but his stomach answered the question for him with a growl. He smiled sheepishly. "I think food would be great."

Atemu nodded and got up to search for Sugoruko. "Maybe the two of us can go to the park tomorrow, what do you think?"

Yugi smiled in appreciation. He really didn't like being locked up in the castle all the time. Maybe if the sun was shining… It could be fun. They'd gone to the park a lot of times before Yugi had started going out with Tea. Yugi started reminiscing about their past excursions to the park, and didn't even notice Yami leave.

"Ho, ho. I've heard somebody is hungry here!" Sugoruko announced with a chuckle as he entered his grandson's room. In his hands he held a giant tray, a plate with spaghettis, a glass filled with coke and an old book laying on top of it. Yugi smiled at his grandfather, and eyed the food hungrily.

"I'll leave you alone with your food then. I'm sure the two of you have a lot of things to share." Grandpa joked, kissed Yugi's forehead affectionately, and left as he had said.

Once Yugi was done eating he turned towards the book. There was no title on the cover, and so he flipped it open to a page somewhere in the middle in his attempts of finding out what the book was about. Why had grandpa brought him that book?

He bent over the book and began to read. Seconds later the book fell onto the floor, and Yugi stared blankly at the still open page, the words of the book continuing to resound in his head. Only now he realized the full meaning of what he'd thought had been a small show of affection.

_Just like in the modern days there were many different ways of showing affection in the old Egyptian times. Especially the kiss on the cheek had a deeper meaning; we have reasons to believe it even surpassed the meaning of the actual kiss on the lips._

_The people of Ancient Egypt believed the face to be the most important of all body parts. It was the only feature they could prove to be truly unique, and according to their religious beliefs, it was the only thing that had been created by Ra himself. Therefore it is only understandable that to touch a person's face, even more so with one's own face, spoke of high affection and could only be tolerated by close family members or loved ones. In the case of the pharaoh the reverence went as far as that it was completely forbidden for commoners (and most of the time even for high priests and the pharaoh's own family) to even look upon the king's face, much less touch it._

_While a person's lips were often seen as the origin of lies and falsehood, a person's cheek was believed to be pure and, in the case of the pharaoh, even holy. While for example the pharaoh's concubines were allowed to kiss their king on the mouth in their pleasure acts, it was a reason for them to be beheaded if they touched his cheeks in any way._

_From a stone tablet found at recent excavations, we have learnt that in Ancient Egypt a marriage proposal was not spoken aloud but signaled by a gentle kiss on the person's cheek. A married person that kissed another man or woman on the cheek could easily be accused of adultery and was most of the time beheaded (unless the spouse pleaded for the person's life). A kiss on the cheek is one of the few things that concerned men as much as women. While it was not uncommon for men to sleep with other women beside their own wife, a kiss on the cheek of another woman was not tolerated and as severely punished as if it had been a woman who committed the crime._

_Other sources suggest that the cheek is a highly erotic spot, and that a married couple signaled its want for sexual intercourse by a kiss on the spouse's cheek. But this has not yet been confirmed._

– To be continued –

**Thank you for waiting for so long. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

The part about the kiss that's written in the **book** in my story is purely fictional and has no true origin in Egyptian legends or whatsoever. At least I don't think it has. I simply needed to have a reason for Yami's strange behavior.

This time I won't tell you the next chapter will be done in next to no time although I hope I can update soon for your sake at least. **I'm putting the info on the progress of my stories on my profile**, which I'll be updating every once in a while when I know something new about my stories, so that you can check how far I am done with my chapters if I've once again taken really long to update.

**Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Title: **Just for You – Chapter 9

**Author:** Erudit

**Pairings:** YY/Y; R/B, S/J and M/M

**Genre: **Romance/Angst

**Thanks for your reviews! You guys are great! **(= written about a year and a half ago)

**I'm so terribly sorry it took me so long. But nothing I wrote was good enough to stay in this chapter. I'm beginning to consider myself a hopeless case, sigh. I only posted this chapter to show you I'm still alive and thinking about this story. I hope somebody will still be interested in it after this long break.**

_Blablabla_ - Thoughts

/blablabla/ - Yami and Yugi talking through mind link

"blablabla" - normal talking

Last time:

Yugi bent over the book and began to read. Seconds later the book fell onto the floor, and he stared blankly at the still open page, the words of the book continuing to resound in his head. Only now he realized the full meaning of what he'd thought had been a small show of affection.

Yugi was still staring at the open book without blinking when the door to his room opened once again and Ryou entered the room.

"Are you alright?" the white-haired hikari questioned as he bent down to pick up the book. He glanced at its contents curiously, and said: "Oh, Egyptian habits, great! I've always wanted a book like this. Where did you find it?" When Yugi didn't answer, he continued: "Quite smart of you to consult a book like this. I bet it'll help you immensely on your quest to get Yami to change." Yugi blushed a bright red.

Ryou put the book on the bedside table, and sat down next to Yugi. "Are you going to tell me what happened or do I have to guess?"

Yugi fidgeted uncomfortably but finally looked at his friend. "I messed up, once again." He sighed disheartened.

"I'm sure it wasn't as bad as you now make it to be. I told Yami that you'd never pretend to like him just to get him to stop hurting others."

"You did what?" Yugi inquired confused.

"Well,…" Ryou paused, unsure of his friend's reaction to what he was about to tell him. "Yami came to me this afternoon, asking me about the, I suppose, quite stupid suggestion of me to seduce him."

"He did?" Yugi asked surprised.

Ryou nodded. "Yes. Apparently, he saw it in your memories. He was quite furious at first, understandably. But I managed to convince him that you'd never act solely upon that suggestion." Ryou smiled broadly.

"How did you manage to convince him? Why did he believe you?" Yugi immediately wanted to know. He was amazed that Yami had listened to the white-haired hikari.

"Well…" Ryou sighed. He had expected that question but that didn't necessarily mean he wanted to answer it. "He read my mind, I suppose." He confessed uncomfortably. "And he at least believed that I thought you not able to do such a thing. I wasn't wrong, was I?" Ryou looked at Yugi wide-eyed.

"Of course not!" Yugi yelled right away.

"What happened, then?" Ryou scooted a little bit closer to Yugi, interested in hearing the whole story. "I would have thought the two of you had made up by now."

"We have, I suppose." Yugi agreed.

"Why your gloomy face, then?" Ryou asked confused. "You didn't argue about something else, did you?"

"No," Yugi sighed, "At least I don't think we did." Then Yugi told Ryou the entire story. Of why he had kissed Yami's cheek in the first place, how Yami had reacted to it, how he hadn't understood why Yami had been so angry, and, finally, what he'd read in the book. When Yugi was done explaining, Ryou broke down laughing.

"That's not funny, you know." Yugi pouted.

"Well…" Ryou managed to get out in-between his laughing fits, "It depends on who you ask, I suppose." But he tried to sober for Yugi's sake.

"I can't believe I practically proposed to him." Yugi sighed. "Or even worse: told him I wanted to have sex with him. No wonder he was mad at me."

"I don't think it was the fact that you kissed his cheek, rather that he thought you knew about the tradition and did it all just because I told you to. He must have believed you were playing with him." Ryou softly corrected the other. "I'm sure he's realized by now, though, that you hadn't known about it; otherwise he'd have never asked your grandpa to bring you the book."

"Do you really think so?" Yugi asked hopefully. Ryou nodded eagerly.

"Wait a moment! How did you know grandpa brought me the book? I didn't tell you that?" Yugi questioned puzzled. Ryou's eyes widened, either because he was surprised himself or because he had just realized that he'd told Yugi something he wasn't supposed to.

"Ugh, well…" Ryou blushed slightly, and then continued in a rush as if an idea had hit him: "I saw him give it to grandpa…yeah, that's it. I saw the two of them talking in the hallway, and how Yami gave your grandpa the book." Ryou sighed relieved. Yugi frowned because of Ryou's strange behavior. He didn't really believe the white-haired hikari, but there wasn't anything he could say about it at the moment, and that's why he decided to let it drop…for now.

"I suppose I should read the entire book just in case." Yugi said instead. "Wouldn't want something like that to happen again. Who knows, maybe I'm violating a law by holding his hand or by walking next to him instead of after him." Yugi looked at the book thoughtful, a frown apparent on his face. "How great is the chance that walking next to a pharaoh in Kemet meant you'd want to have sex with him in the next five minutes?"

Ryou sniggered. "Well, I better go. It's already late. Try to get some sleep. I'm sure Yami will forgive you for not knowing everything about his country's traditions." Ryou waved one last time at Yugi, and then slipped out of the door.

_The problem is that I don't know anything about Ancient Egyptian traditions_, Yugi thought.

"Are you ready, little one?" Atemu asked the next morning upon entering Yugi's room. Needless to say, Yugi wasn't ready, and therefore he tripped over several toys and almost ran into a wall while trying to get ready as fast as possible.

Yami leaned against the door and watched Yugi with an amused smile, only now and then averting his eyes from Yugi's form when one of his shadows required his attention.

"O.k. … I'm… ready." Yugi finally panted, bent over to catch his breath.

"You might want to try to find a matching pair of shoes, though, aibou." Yami suggested with a chuckle, looking down at the yellow and blue shoe with a raised eyebrow. "Unless it's a fashion statement."

Yugi looked down as well and blushed when realizing that he hadn't only mixed up his shoes but his socks as well. The left sock was white, the right one was yellow with purple streaks. He ran back towards his closet, nearly tripping over his own feet in the progress. One minute later he was back in front of Yami, hoping that his appearance was satisfactory this time.

"Let's go, little one."

Yugi silently followed Yami through various hallways, hoping for the elder to say something, and at the same time wondering how he'd ever know his way about in this big castle. Maybe he should ask Yami for a map to not get lost anymore?

/What are you thinking about, aibou?/ Yami's rich voice crept in-between Yugi's own thoughts so inconspicuously that it took Yugi a few seconds to realize this question hadn't been his own.

"Oh, just wondering if there was a way for me to not get lost in your palace." Yugi muttered, knowing that it was futile to lie by now. Yami had probably already found his answer in Yugi's thoughts.

Yami laughed good-naturedly. "Don't worry, chibi ichi, after having lived here for some time you'll find your way around. Your memory isn't as bad as you believe it to be." They finally reached the entrance, or in this case the exit, and stepped outside.

_It's raining_, Yugi noticed, partly surprised but most of all disappointed. How were they supposed to go to the park when it was pouring like that?

"Wait here for a moment." Yami requested, and stepped outside in the rain alone. Yugi watched him mystified. What was he going to do? Yugi could see Yami stretch out his hand, palm up, and he was instantly reminded of himself, trying to catch the raindrops with his fingertips when he had been younger. But Yami wasn't him. The ex-pharaoh would never play a game like that.

Then, a ball of light formed in Yami's out-stretched hand, first only small, hardly noticeable, and then it became brighter and bigger. When Yami was pleased with its size and brightness, he raised his hand higher into the sky, and the ball of light soared up like a bullet.

Yugi followed its movements with his eyes, wondering what it was supposed to be doing. The ball stopped his ascent high above Yami before exploding and throwing shards of light into all directions. For a moment, the entire sky was covered with gleaming shards. Then the shards began to dissipate, and with them, the clouds began to disappear as well. The rain stopped and the sun came out behind the last disappearing clouds.

Yugi watched the happenings with wide eyes and open-mouthed. Yami was able to regulate the weather? No wonder it had hardly ever rained since Yami had taken over the world.

/Are you alright, aibou?/ Yami's sensual voice cut through the haze in Yugi's mind, accompanied by a soft chuckle. Yugi could feel that his dark half was pleased with himself for having impressed Yugi.

The younger one simply nodded and stepped up to Yami. "You know if you always prevent it from raining, then all the plants will have to suffer. They need the water."

Yami closed the mind link with a snap, and wordlessly led the way through the streets in the direction of the park. Yugi studied him out of the corner of the eye, knowing fully well that his childish attempt at keeping Yami from noticing how impressed he had really been had hurt his dark half.

After some time, though, Yugi turned his attention back towards his surroundings, once again not recognizing any of the streets although he knew that they must have passed the same houses only a few days ago when they had last visited the park. Just then, one of the side streets vanished and was replaced by a large house. "Why do you constantly change the streets, Yami?" Yugi asked with a sigh, remembering all the problems he and his friends had encountered because of them changing all the time.

"I have my reasons." Yami said, not bothering to elaborate or to really answer Yugi's question.

"Why do you always treat me like a little child? As if I wouldn't understand anything!" Yugi growled, his eyes narrowed and hands clenched to fists. He hated being treated like that. As though he wasn't worthy being told anything.

Yami turned around surprised and regarded Yugi with a thoughtful expression. "I have never thought of you as a child." He stated, his eyes locking onto Yugi's to make sure he got his message across. The former pharaoh turned around again and continued walking towards the park. "I simply do not want to bother you with meaningless things."

"And of course you are the one deciding what is meaningless and what isn't." Yugi declared condescendingly. "As if I wouldn't know what's good and significant for me."

"Sometimes you don't." Yami said.

Yugi gasped at his dark half's audacity at actually saying something like that. He had expected Yami to tell him that he didn't think him incapable of deciding on his own. Tears accumulated in his eyes. This statement had hit home. However, he refused to cry. It would just show his weakness even more.

"You are much too nice." Yami continued. "When people tell you of one of their problems you automatically try to help even though it doesn't concern you at all. Most people just use your good-natured-ness. I am your dark half. It is my job to protect you from people like that. I will not bother you with problems I can easily solve on my own."

"Maybe I want to help." Yugi whispered, not daring to speak louder in fear of Yami hearing the tremble in his voice. He felt the first drops of crystalline water drip down his cheeks.

"I will not let you!" Yami yelled, whirling around and gripping Yugi's shoulders roughly. "I'm not like them! Don't you understand, aibou?"

Yugi closed his eyes, trying even harder to keep tears from running down his cheeks. He shook his head in a frustrated manner. No, he didn't understand at all. What did Yami mean? That he didn't want anybody to help him? That Yugi wouldn't be able to help him because he was too weak? He felt his dark half pulling him into a hug; his face was automatically buried into Yami's neck, and the smell of exotic spices once again filled his nostrils. He was much too weak to protest even though he didn't want any comfort from somebody who thought him a weakling. He could almost hear the voices of his former bullies again, calling him a shrimp, a weirdo, and many other, much more painful names.

"Stop it." Yami ordered softly, and some of his shadows entered Yugi's mind, forcing the voices to die down. "You are one of the strongest, probably even the strongest person I've ever met. You spent countless hours in the shadow realm, fought with hundreds of people that either wanted to kill you or tried to steal the puzzle. You were sucked in by the seal of Orichalchos." Yami's voice faltered for a moment, and then he continued: "None of your friends, nobody that has met you and come to know you, would ever call you weak. Your inner strength is amazing. Your belief and trust in your friends and even in people you have never met before and who seem to want nothing else but hurt you are astonishing. I have never met a soul as pure as yours. That you even managed to survive for so long without somebody to back you up is a miracle. Had anybody else possessed a soul as pure as yours, he would probably not have survived more than a few days."

"What are you trying to say?" Yugi mumbled, his mouth still pressed into the crook of Yami's neck. "That I'm weak because of the purity of my soul?"

"No." Yami immediately responded, and hugged him even tighter. "I was trying to show you how strong you are."

"Why then won't you let me help you? Why do you never explain anything? How am I supposed to understand you when you never tell me anything about your decisions?" Yugi argued heatedly.

"Because as soon as I tell you about a dilemma I'm facing, you will automatically start looking for a way out. You will be brooding over it for hours and hours instead of enjoying yourself and playing a game." Yami explained. "It is in your nature to always want to help. If I came to you with all the problems I faced, then you couldn't ever do anything else but thinking over possible solutions."

"You don't need to come with all your problems, if you indeed have that many, just one problem would be enough for the moment. If you don't tell me anything I get the feeling you don't trust me." Yugi declared, as he disentangled himself from Yami's arms. His face was red because of all the tears, his nose running and his violet eyes a dark purple, close to black, as they always were when he was crying. "Besides," he added, "how am I supposed to play if you're always busy with your various problems, and my friends are either hiding somewhere in the forest or scattered all over the world? You know it's no fun to play on your own."

"You can play with Ryou." Yami suggested, as they once again continued walking in the direction of the park.

"He wants to spend as much time as possible with Bakura, as is understandable." Yugi tried to secretly wipe off the last of his tears. Then he continued: "Also, it's more fun to play with different people or even several people at once. You should know that. There was a time when you enjoyed playing games yourself."

"I like the challenge." Yami granted. "I see no reason to play when it's clear that I'm going to win anyways."

"Some people just play for the fun of it, you know. Not everybody plays just because he wants to win. The main purpose is to have fun." Yugi scolded softly. "Besides, sometimes it's nice to let others win. You don't need to be undefeated in all games all the time. But I suppose your pride would never allow you to let anybody else win, even if it were the person you cared for most."

Yugi walked ahead of Yami, staring straight ahead. He didn't know why he had even said the last bit. It had been completely uncalled for and quite out of his character. He supposed it was because he had felt insulted by Yami's comment nobody would ever be able to defeat him in anything. There had been a time when he had thought of himself as Yami's equal but his dark half made sure he knew he would never be as good.

Yugi felt Yami watching him out of the corner of his eyes. He pretended not to notice. Surely, if Yami really was in love with him, then he would like to play games with him, wouldn't he? Yami also wouldn't call him weak and unable to defeat the former king. After all, why should Yami ever fall in love with somebody he actually thought unworthy of his company?

They arrived at an intersection, and Yugi stopped, not knowing which road they were supposed to be taking. Yami walked ahead, and turned into the left road. Yugi followed him silently, beginning to think the excursion had been a bad idea. He desperately hoped Yami would start talking about something. He hated the silence that now accompanied them.

"Your grandfather cares for you very much." Yami began, as if he had once again read Yugi's private thoughts (he probably had). The younger one blinked, not knowing if that had been a statement or if Yami required an affirmation.

"Would you miss him if you never saw him again?" Yami asked after a few seconds.

"Huh?" Yugi exclaimed surprised. "Why are you asking that? Do you want to send grandpa away? Is he sick?" He frowned worriedly. "I didn't notice he was in pain. We should get a doctor and-"

"Your grandfather is quite alright." Yami interrupted. "I was just talking hypothetically. He is, after all, older than we are, and it is therefore likely that he will pass away before us. I was wondering if you'd miss him then."

Yugi looked at his dark half confused. Why was he asking all those strange questions? What was the meaning of that? "You always miss your loved ones when they are gone. They take a part of your heart with them when they leave."

Yami nodded as though he had expected that answer. He wanted to say something else but was distracted by the sky slowly turning purple. Yugi noticed the strange phenomenon as well. Had Yami's weather-spell somehow backfired?

"I think we should postpone our outing." Yami said, his eyes not leaving the sky. He looked worried, Yugi realized.

The former pharaoh made a motion with his hand and a couple of shadows appeared around Yugi. "My shadows will escort you back home."

"What? Why?" Yugi stammered, ducking to evade the shadows' cold grip. "No! I want to stay with you, Yami. Please let me stay."

The older one shook his head. "No. Most certainly not." Leaving no room for arguments, the pharaoh went in the direction of where the sky was darkest purple. He didn't even look back.

Yugi fought against the shadows, trying to loosen their hold. "Let me go! Yami! Let me go, I say!" The grip around him tightened, if possible, and he was dragged away against his will, screaming and begging Yami to make them stop, to let him come along.

Unceremoniously he was dropped inside of his room, the shadows disappearing, and the door locking itself behind him. He was no guest in Yami's palace, Yugi realised. He was a prisoner; and nothing would ever change that. Yami obviously didn't think him capable of taking over responsibility. He'd never be able to make a decision on his own. The rest of his life he'd spend in a golden cage. Unless he found a way out.

Yugi grounded his teeth, and stepped to one of his windows. A storm was brewing outside. The trees were bent in the wind, leaves flying around wildly, spiralling high in the sky. Thunder rumbled through the air, making the windowpane vibrate, and bright flashes lightened up the now dark purple sky. Yugi had never seen anything like it. Were those flashes green or were his eyes playing a trick on him? It most certainly was not natural. Yami's spell had apparently gone very wrong.

"Deserves him right for being such a show-off." Yugi grumbled angrily. He was too disappointed in his dark half at the moment to really care for his well-being. He almost wished something would happen either to himself or to Yami. That way that entire ordeal would finally end, and everybody else could live in peace again.

"I wish our relationship was like in the beginning when I first became aware of him; when he still respected my opinion." Yugi sighed miserably, while watching the happenings outside. It was mesmerizing in its own way. _When he would have literally done anything to make me happy._

**I know there isn't much happening in this chapter. At least not enough for it to be worth the long wait. I've put the best parts of my various attempts to write the next chapter into this one. This is for those who've reviewed all those months ago and are still willing to read my rare updates.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Title: **Just for You – Chapter 10

**Author:** Erudit

**Pairings:** YY/Y; R/B, S/J and M/M

**Genre: **Romance/Angst

**Thank you for your reviews! You guys are great!**

_Blablabla_ - Thoughts

/blablabla/ - Yami and Yugi talking through mind link

"blablabla" - normal talking

Last time:

Yugi grounded his teeth, and stepped to a window. A storm was brewing outside. The trees were bent in the wind, leaves flying around wildly, spiralling high in the sky. Thunder rumbled through the air, making the windowpane vibrate, and bright flashes lightened up the now dark purple sky. Yugi had never seen anything like it. Were those green flashes or were his eyes playing a trick on him? It most certainly was not natural. Yami's spell had apparently gone very wrong.

"Deserves him right for being such a show-off." Yugi grumbled angrily.

As always, Yugi's anger diminished over the hours it seemed to take Yami to correct his weather-mistake, and eventually his worry for his dark half made itself known again.

Yami wasn't one to make mistakes with anything. If anybody knew this, it was Yugi. Every spell was usually meticulously performed, not leaving room for any error or misinterpretation. You had to be exact with shadow magic if you wanted to achieve a result you would like. _Why had it gone wrong this time? And why did it take Yami this long to take care of it?_

"Yugi?" Ryou Bakura was peering into his room with worried eyes. "Do you know what's going on outside?"

Yugi shook his head, frowning. He had tried to assemble the little information he had into the whole picture but had found it impossible so far. _If Yami had not made a mistake, what had actually happened? Was it possible for anybody besides the pharaoh to be capable of magic this strong?_

"Somebody is attacking us." Came the tomb-robber's strong voice from beside Ryou, and the other hikari opened the door wider to allow a more comfortable conversation between the four of them. Marik had accompanied the other two, and was currently nodding in agreement with Bakura. In any other situation it would have been amusing that the two former enemies managed to agree on something but Yugi was currently slightly distracted by their predicament. Yami was fighting somebody who was attacking them – somebody who was apparently attacking the whole city – and might need help.

"Do you know who is attacking us?" Yugi wanted to know. He was staring at Bakura attentively, in the way he had Yami often seen doing, hoping this would keep the notorious tomb-robber from lying.

"I can hazard a guess." Bakura growled, and his dark eyes flashed dangerously. "You two should stay here. Marik and I will help the pharaoh. We will take care of this problem." He pronounced *problem* with such disgust as if he was talking about an ugly bug that he wanted to squish with his foot.

Ryou protested immediately, wanting to accompany the other two, but his protests fell on deaf ears.

Yugi didn't even bother. He had had enough of this from Yami, and knew they wouldn't let them come unless Ryou and Yugi somehow managed to shackle themselves to the two dark halves.

Instead, he turned to look back to the purple sky above them. It was reminding him of something but he couldn't remember what it was reminding him of, no matter how hard he tried.

"A great help you are!" Ryou complained once they had been left alone.

"I'm sorry." Yugi answered softly. "But you know as well as I that they would have never let us come with them willingly. I was just conserving my energy for sneaking out of the castle without them noticing."

"You – what?" stammered Ryou shocked. "Wow, what a sly creature you are!" He was looking at Yugi appraisingly. "Where have you been hiding this side of yourself all this time?" He entered the room, and closed the door behind him conspiratorially.

Yugi shrugged. "Must have been your influence." A small smile fleetingly graced his lips but vanished as soon as it had been present. It was no time for jokes. They could all be in serious danger.

"How do you propose we get out without them noticing?" Ryou sat down on the bed and looked at his friend worriedly. He too realized that their attackers would be dangerous. But that just added to his reasons for wanting to help their dark halves. "Do you think they will be too distracted by the fight?"

Yugi grimaced. "Probably not. We will need somebody's help in sneaking us outside. Preferably somebody with knowledge about this place." He was already mentally going over the few options. _Sugoruko, Seto Kaiba-_

"We should ask your grandpa." Ryou suggested. "He seems to know his way around pretty well, and has lived in the castle long enough."

"No!" Yugi protested vehemently, although he himself didn't even understand his aversion against asking Sugoruko. Something was telling him that his grandpa was the wrong choice. _Probably because Sugoruko seemed to tell Yami everything I told him in confidence_, Yugi guessed darkly, because he couldn't really think of any other reason.

Ryou's face fell disappointed. "But there is nobody else."

"There is one person that might be able to help us." Yugi corrected, thinking once again of Seto Kaiba. "I only hope he is well enough for this."

His white-haired friend looked at him blankly but Yugi ignored him in favor of trying to remember how to get to Kaiba's room. He had had help getting to and back from the room the last times, after all.

It took them seemingly forever to find their way to Kaiba's cell but one look through a window outside told them that the sky was still purple, which meant the fight between their dark halves and the enemy was not yet over. And just like before this color was triggering something in the back of Yugi's mind that he just couldn't remember, no matter how hard he tried. It annoyed him to no end.

Yugi softly knocked at the wooden door, hoping he was not interrupting the Kaiba brothers' well-needed sleep.

Only one moment later, the door was opened by a slightly suspicious looking Mokuba. The younger Kaiba soon relaxed, though, when he realized who his guests were. He opened the door wider, by way of greeting, and Yugi was able to see that Kaiba was awake and that the CEO's condition had slightly improved over the last day. _Thanks for small favors_, he thought.

Ryou wisely kept silent and let Yugi handle the situation. After all, he hadn't even known Kaiba was still alive, though he had hoped so for Joey's sake. If Joey had had a dark half, it would have been Kaiba, he was sure.

"How are you, Seto." Yugi asked worriedly. Even though they were actually in a hurry, he was still too polite and too concerned about the CEO's well-fare to just ask for the information they actually needed.

"Better, thanks to you." Kaiba answered hoarsely. "But that's not why you are here." At the surprised look of the two hikaris, he continued by way of explanation: "I can feel the change in the atmosphere just like you can."

Yugi's eyes widened at the implication. Only somebody with a connection to shadow magic should be able to sense the disturbance.

"How is that possible?" asked Ryou from beside him the question Yugi had been wondering himself.

Seto smiled wryly, or at least he tried to. With the pain this motion caused, it was more a grimace. "In a past life I was once a High Priest. My service has not ended with my previous death, and as long as _He_ remains true, it never will end."

In their surprise Yugi and Ryou talked at the same time:

"You remember?" Yugi wanted to know, alluding to their experiences in Ancient Egypt that had ended with Yami receiving his own body, and the evil in Bakura being banished. He had met High Priest Seth, of course, but had never believed it possible for Seto to retain these memories. The CEO had seemed impervious to any notion of this supernatural stuff being true. But then again, too much had happened in the past year even for Seto Kaiba to pretend ignorance.

"As long as he remains true?" Ryou exclaimed incredulously in the meantime. As far as he was concerned, the Pharaoh hadn't remained a protector of the world as he had been supposed to. And looking at Seto sagging brokenly in a wooden chair, he would have thought the Ex-CEO would have been one of the firsts agree with this assessment.

Seto ignored Ryou's interjection and focused solely on Yugi. "I have remembered for a long time. I had merely hoped I could ignore it, together with my feelings and my responsibilities. I have failed you, Yugi."

There was a sadness in Kaiba's eyes that Yugi was unfamiliar seeing on the cold-hearted CEO. Automatically, he shook his head, even though he didn't really understand Kaiba's strange claim. "You never failed me. If memory serves me right, you even saved my life once."

"Yes." Seto Kaiba agreed with a pained laugh. "I like to wager we will both remember this for quite some time and for an entirely different reason than it should be." He was referring to Yami's treatment of him.

"Unfortunately, I cannot truly be of service to you at the moment." Kaiba indicated his still wrapped feet, ignoring the pain he felt in his neck at that movement. "There is currently, however, one thing in my possession that might help you."

Yugi and Ryou frowned, not knowing what he was talking about. Yugi had hoped Seto would know a way out of the castle, and had expected his friend to ask for pen and paper to draw instructions. Ryou couldn't imagine a worldly possession that would be able to help them in any way.

The CEO closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, reaching out with his hand for something invisible. The air in front of his hand glimmered for a few seconds before the millennium rod in all his glory appeared in Kaiba's hand.

The young man almost fondly touched the item, as if welcoming back an old friend. A moment later, he held it out for Yugi to take with the simple words: "You know what to do with it."

"How did you get that?" Ryou wanted to know suspiciously. "We all know that the pharaoh is in possession of all the millennium items." There were times when he was still missing the item dangling from his neck.

"He is." Seto Kaiba agreed. "But he lets us use them when in need. We are all bonded to our items in some way. After several millennia, this could hardly be prevented. When we truly desire them, they come back to us. Once no longer in need, they will return to the pharaoh's possession – and his claim can always overrule ours, of course."

Yugi hesitantly took the item, not entirely sure how it would help him other than him now being able to use a different millennium item to control the shadows than his own puzzle. He wasn't sure how mind-control or sealing away the Kas of other people would help them on their quest, though.

"I'm rather surprised he lets you use them." Ryou continued his train of thought. He was still slightly suspicious that Seto Kaiba had been able to call upon his item when the ring never came back to Ryou, no matter how much he wished for it. "Doesn't that undermine his authority?"

"No." Kaiba shook his head. "He has already bested all of us, and the items recognize him as their true owner. They do not work against him any longer. However, he lets those of us who have proven themselves worthy take control over them when in need."

Ryou glanced at Kaiba's appearance unbelievingly, and spat: "You mean to tell me this is how he treats people he considers worthy? Who needs enemies with friends like that?"

Yugi bristled slightly at that but ignored his instincts that were telling him to defend his dark half. Ryou was kind of right, after all.

"It was my fault as much as it was his." Seto sighed. "I should have known better than to antagonize him. He has a rather mean temper when something comes between him and his hikari. I knew he was on edge because of all the attacks; I should have kept myself from aggravating the situation."

"But he would have killed you." Yugi murmured, still looking at the millennium rod but not really seeing the item. Yami's cruel behavior was still a sore spot for him.

"He would kill anybody for you." Seto replied simply. "You must go now. They have found a way to get stronger. They are a serious danger to all of us."

"Who are they?" Ryou wanted to know, realizing that the CEO knew a lot more than he had told them. "You mentioned there were attacks before, yet we never noticed any of them."

"There is no time for explanations." Kaiba protested. "You will see yourselves soon. Be strong, Yugi."

Yugi glanced at the CEO surprised, not understanding why he had been singled out like this. But the older man simply lay back down, and closed his eyes exhausted. He was still very week from Yami's attack.

Courtesy of the Millennium Rod, they were able to move through Yami's palace without the shadows noticing. Yugi would have been able to do the same with his Puzzle – all of them allowed control over the shadows, after all – but Yami would have immediately noticed the drain on the Puzzle. They were connected in that way.

It was still possible for his dark half to pick up the faint traces of magic he was applying now but the risk was slightly smaller, and Yugi was quite confident that Yami was adequately distracted by their enemies. Otherwise, the battle would have been over long ago.

It worried him slightly that anybody was capable of keeping Yami at bay for so long. He somehow doubted that Yami's new enemy would be one of the hikari's new allies. He was almost certain that this was not simply a human who had had enough of Yami's dictatorship. The control of shadow powers almost always lead to the practitioner's insanity or himself being controlled by the shadows. Only few were able to retain their own selves when dealing with shadow magic. Ryou, Malik and he himself had been able to because they were hikaris – light halves that couldn't be corrupted on their own – and many before them had perished trying to control the items.

Luckily, they also escaped Sugoruko's notice, though Yugi still couldn't be sure why he felt that way. It had something to do with those lost memories of his but as long as he had not retained them, he obviously couldn't explain himself.

The streets were eerily quiet, and a few of Yami's shadows were changing their destinations once again.

Yugi wondered why his dark half wasted his energy and concentration on ordering his shadows to do this when he didn't even know what Yugi and Ryou had planned. _Did Yami do this simply because he realized the possibility that the two hikaris might try to leave the palace?_

This didn't really seem like something Yami would do. The pharaoh would rather concentrate completely on the fight to be done sooner. Then, Yugi and Ryou wouldn't have so much time to try to escape.

Once Yugi had realized this, he had the sinking suspicion that the changing of the streets with shadow magic had never been something Yami did to confuse his hikari, to stop Yugi from finding his way home. It had to rather be a defensive mechanism, applied in case their enemies entered the city. The pharaoh had done this to prevent their enemies from finding them.

Understanding this, Yugi knew that everything they had thought about Yami's actions so far had to be reevaluated. Apparently, they had never understood the pharaoh's reasoning. This could change everything, he knew. But sadly they didn't have much time to think about these revelations at the moment.

Ryou gestured to a narrow passageway to their right, indicating he thought this would bring them closer to their destination.

Yugi nodded and followed the white-haired hikari.

As they only knew the three yamis were fighting their enemies somewhere on the edge of the city, they couldn't say for sure if they were even going in the right direction. For all they knew they might be going to the wrong end of the city. But the purple sky had looked darker in that direction and some of those green flashes seemed to originate from there as well, so they had decided to look there first.

They turned into another narrow street that took them further right.

If Yami changed the streets because he was afraid of intruders and if their enemies had tried to attack the city before, just like Kaiba had alluded to, then this could only mean that either Yami's control over the rest of the world was not as tight as it was over this city here – or the rest of the world wasn't even controlled by the pharaoh.

He tried to think who first mentioned to him that Yami had taken over the world. _Had it been Joey?_ Probably, as the blonde had had access to the most information back then. Yugi himself had already been in hiding – kept company by one Malik Ishtar – and Ryou had been more looking for Bakura than for information back then.

Most of Joey's information had been dead on but then again he had also insisted that Yami wanted to kill Yugi to gain even more powers, and that didn't seem right anymore either.

Yugi really wished he could ask Ryou for his input on these thoughts. But they didn't dare communicating out loud, in case anybody heard them, and he couldn't mind-talk to his friend as he was able to do with his yami. _Now that would be a neat trick_, he thought despondently.

A bright flash and a loud crash was all that alerted them to some commotion close by before they were sprayed with debris of the building left to them. The blast of the explosion was strong enough to pull them off their feet, and throw them into the air until they bumped heavily against the wall of another building.

Neither Yugi nor Ryou could contain their pained gasps at the harsh contact. Whatever air had been remaining in their lungs throughout their impromptu flying-lesson was forcefully pushed out of their lungs, and for some moments both of them were heavily gasping for air.

Bright and dark spots danced in Yugi's vision, making everything else a gray blur. He didn't know whether it had become quiet again after the explosion or if it was just his hearing that was now impaired because he couldn't hear anything beyond the noise his own blood rushing through the veins made.

Suddenly something grasped his arm. He tried to struggle futilely but was soon dragged of somewhere. After about a block the person stopped and his arm was once again released.

Then, as though somebody had turned a switch, his hearing and vision returned to him with a vengeance, and suddenly everything around him was too loud, too bright, and too colorful. If he had been the person to do it, he would have started swearing in surprise. As it was, he could hear Ryou doing just that right beside him.

"Shhhh!" Malik angrily gestured Ryou to quiet down.

Yugi just blinked surprised as he realized that they had been found – and dragged off – by Malik and Joey. He opened his mouth to ask them where they had come from and what that explosion had been but then Malik looked at him, as if he had sensed the questions, and the look in the Egyptian hikari's eyes told Yugi to keep quiet. Somebody might hear them.

– To be continued –

**Thank you guys for bearing with me for so long! The story is slowly coming to an end.**


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